[maemo-developers] Location of /home, /tmp and /var folder kills tablet device in a couple of months

[From: Eero Tamminen]

Hi,

ext Oliver wrote:
> The /home, /tmp and /var folders are stored on the small internal 256 MB flash device.
> This is a problem, because writing to a flash device very often kills the device.

If you run the "mount" command, you'll notice that frequently used /tmp
and /var/run directories are actually in tmpfs i.e. in RAM (which size
is limited to 1/2MB, anything needing more space should use $TMPDIR i.e.
/var/tmp).


 > So, i suggest to move the /var, /tmp and /home folders (and any other 
 > folder with very variable data) to the flash SD memorycards because
 > they can be replaced anytime by new ones when they get unfunctional
 > someday.

Having directories required in device bootup on a media that user
can remove (and which isn't inserted in the device when user gets
it out of the package) is not really a good idea for a consumer device.


 > So the /etc/fstab needs to be changed and filesystem on the external
 > SD card needs also to be changed from vfat to something more suitable
 > for a linux os. So something like JFFS2 or ext2/3.

JFFS2 is for raw flash, not memory cards.  Ext2/3 aren't recognized by
Windows or Mac so most(?) users wouldn't be able to copy their media
files on them.  The cards are formatted as FAT when people buy them.


 > An experienced user might be able to do these changes on its own but 
unskilled tablet users won't be able to do this.


	- Eero