Debian Repeals The Merged "/usr" Movement Moratorium

[NotMine999]

I wonder when we will get a Linux distro that simply cuts to the chase over the entire merged filesystem discussion by doing something like this:

• Store every file under / in some way or another [already being done]
• Use the CPU to randomly generate GUID-based directory names that will be different on every user system [security via obscurity]
• Implement code that modifies itself upon installation to use these GUID-based directory names [theoretically possible]

Then there would be nothing to merge as everything would be under / in some form using randomly generated yet totally meaningless directory names.

[flower]

I wonder when we will get a Linux distro that simply cuts to the chase over the entire merged filesystem discussion by doing something like this:

• Store every file under / in some way or another [already being done]
• Use the CPU to randomly generate GUID-based directory names that will be different on every user system [security via obscurity]
• Implement code that modifies itself upon installation to use these GUID-based directory names [theoretically possible]

Then there would be nothing to merge as everything would be under / in some form using randomly generated yet totally meaningless directory names.

nixos installs everything to /nix/store and symlinks it to different environments (eg user, for systemd units, dev environments and so on)

not exactly what you propose but somewhat similar intention

[Britoid]

I don't see the point in merging these in the first place. Symlinks to the other folders are likely to exist in perpetuity for the sake of backward compatibility.

/usr can become a read-only partition for system updates. You already see this with ostree.

/ may also have not be the real root

[Britoid]

systemd-homed is in fact a thing, and seems pretty cool from what I've seen. It makes users/user directories 100% portable, so you could e.g. just copy /home/username from one system to another, and everything would automagically Just Work.

I'm of the thought that /home should be moved to /var/home or /var/users

[acobar]

Kid: This boat is poorly designed. We need to change the design to something sane and fix it right now.

Everyone else: We're on it in the middle of the lake right now, idiot.

This is a hell of a funny joke!

Also, a very good description of many situations/requests, like what we have at stake.

[sdack]

systemd requires /usr/bin in the same fs as root anyway.

Sorry, you have the wrong information. See https://freedesktop.org/wiki/Softwar...usr-is-broken/ ... Quote: "1. It isn't systemd's fault. systemd mostly works fine with /usr on a separate file system that is not pre-mounted at boot."

There are a few problems with systemd when /usr is not mounted at boot, but a pre-mounted /usr-directory should not pose a problem at all, or systemd's design would be quite limited if it had such a specific requirement as /usr/bin needing to be on the same filesystem as the root /-directory.

[uxmkt]

Early Unix was tightly limited by storage and RAM space so terse acronyms were the norm. [...] That really became obsolete when computers began to be able to multiprocess [...]

Though keyboards have improved as well since the 80s, I'd still rather prefer typing less. Because no matter how high your CPM strike ratio is,

<tt>c:\program files</tt>

is always 4x as long as e.g.

<tt>/opt</tt>

. Yeah, Windows has TAB completion too by now (it used to not exist in Win9x), but then there are snags like

<tt>C:\Program Files (x86)</tt>

which break the tabbing rhythm, as do characters that require mandatory modifier key use like '(' or '\' (some layouts).

[elml]

Well...

I for one use multiple minimal/small systems where /usr is on separate hardware or across separate disks...

Being able to successfully boot without the hardware for /usr is too useful to abandon for the sake of whimsical vanity!

And for debug, or even for understanding an unfamiliar installation, I hope we can keep our good sanity rather than fall into the lazy frustrating time wasting mess of a Wild West that is the lazy sloppy world of broken Windows...

Or are we doing a defenestration?

[Sonadow]

• Use the CPU to randomly generate GUID-based directory names that will be different on every user system [security via obscurity]
• Implement code that modifies itself upon installation to use these GUID-based directory names [theoretically possible]

Then there would be nothing to merge as everything would be under / in some form using randomly generated yet totally meaningless directory names.

Windows already does these.

For the record, C:\*\* is NOT really C:\*\* despite what PowerShell, CMD and Explorer presents to you. It's actually layers upon layers of GUIDs that are being masked by Windows to display that friendly C:\*\* path.

Don't ask me how I know.

[Alexmitter]

They don't solve anything for anyone who doesn't demand their hand be held every minute by the OS. All they do is add bloat that makes Windows devs say "Damn, that's bloated..."

Someone is butthurt