Persistent /var/log

Forum: DSL Ideas and Suggestions
Topic: Persistent /var/log
started by: whiteweasel

Posted by whiteweasel on May 02 2006,20:34

Right now I'm using DSL on a couple of older laptops. I probably will add it to one of my more powerful machines as well. I like the way persistent /home and /opt directories are handled in a frugal install now for preservation of data, add on programs, and settings (backup/restore). I'd like to see persistent logs available (the /var/log directory) for those of us who choose to have syslog running for security reasons. Adding a boot option like:

log=hda<n>

would be a great addition to a future DSL release.

Posted by mikshaw on May 03 2006,01:57

Ideally I wouldn't mind seeing the ability to set any directories you like this way, but it would probably be a headache for robert =o)

Have you tried adding "var/log" to .filetool.lst?

Another option is to create a log directory on your harddrive and mount that to /var/log from /opt/bootlocal.sh (mount /dev/xxxx && mount --bind /mnt/xxxx/log /var/log)....or if you want the whole drive to be log, mount the drive to /var/log.
I have no idea if boot logging is done in /var/log, so for all I know this might not work well.

If you're only concerned about syslog, you could start syslogd from bootlocal, AFTER restoring /var/log/messages

Posted by lwmxynedtodth on May 20 2006,20:32

Hai,
Finally set up dsl on my old laptop, it works great!

just 2 questions:
is it possible to point /home and /opt to the hda3? I used frugal install, and do want to store /home and /opt on my third partition, not on the one 60M with the image. How can I do this.

Otherwise, can I just use /home and /opt as virtual directories, and backup them everytime I shutdown, or something like that.

i preserve the first option, so just use my hda3 as /home and /opt, and use the hda1 as /ramdisk and /, and hda2 as swap.

thanks,
lwmxynedtodth

Posted by mikshaw on May 22 2006,15:10

Both options are possible, and both are documented in the DSL wiki. Your prefered method can be done by using the boot option dsl home=hda3 opt=hda3. The first time you do this the home and opt directories will be copied from the originals.

Posted by lwmxynedtodth on May 22 2006,17:58

Yes, I figured that out a few minutes after the post

And the virtual home and opt refer to the ramdrive, and every change made in those folders will appear in the static directory (such as /dev/hda3). Works great. the only thing lefts is my usb.