MkLinux: Getting Started[an error occurred while processing this directive]: Preparations

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Getting Started[an error occurred while processing this directive]: Preparations


Think Differently. Think MkLinux.

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Estimating Space Requirements

The MkLinux DR3 CD contains 420 packages that can be installed initially and 233 "extra" packages which can be installed later, as desired. The initial installation process provides quite a bit of flexibility in choosing which of the initial 420 packages to install. Follow-on installation is even more flexible, allowing any desired package(s) to be installed.

It would be ridiculous for us to list the disk space requirements of every combination allowed by the initial installation. So, we will provide the space requirements for three typical MkLinux installations.

The MkLinux installer has a page where you choose several broad categories of packages to be installed. The install configuration called

"Absolute Minimum" unchecks (de-selects) every option on the selection page.
"Default Selections" makes no changes on the selections page.
"Everything" installs all 420 packages.

Partition	Absolute Minimum	Default	Everything

/	15	15	16
/opt	0	33	47
/usr	41	136	398
/var	2	4	10
/home	0	0	3

Totals:	58	188	474

All values are in Megabytes (where 1 Megabyte = 1024*1024 bytes). Given the five partitions shown above, the table shows the space usage in the partition after each of the three separate installations. It is not necessary for you to create all five of these MkLinux filesystem partitions. In fact, the /opt partition is not found on most Linux installations. In general, you will want to have fewer partitions in your installation than the five shown above. As you eliminate partitions, incorporate their space into that of the root partition (labelled / in the table).

To help you get started, we will walk through two common examples. An "Everything" installation, using the three partitions /, /usr, and /home, will require at least 73 MB for /, 398 MB for /usr, and 3 MB for /home. A "Default Selections" installation, with a single filesystem partition, will require at least 188 MB in that (/) partition. Of course, you will want to leave some extra space in your filesystems so that you can actually use your MkLinux system without running out of space on the first day! If you will be installing some of the 233 "extra" packages on the CD, then you should increase the amount available in /usr, as most of those packages install files somewhere under the /usr directory.

If you want to add several user accounts to your system so that your friends can log in, you will want to have plenty of space available for /home to grow. /home is also the default location of any "anonymous FTP" space or web pages that you may want to host on your MkLinux system. If you expect your MkLinux system to be handling lots of email or Usenet news, ensure that the /var directory has plenty of room to grow.

Hopefully, you now have some idea of what partitions you will want for MkLinux. The next step is to actually make these MkLinux partitions.

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Copyright (©) 2001 MkLinux Developers Association. Permission to freely distribute this document is hereby granted, provided that it is distributed at no charge other than normal connect-time charges. All rights other than those specifically granted above are reserved.