On Fri, Jun 29, 2001 at 10:15:40AM -0500, Brian wrote:
> Why is there a /bin and a
> /usr/bin?

/bin, /sbin, and /lib live on the root device/fs and contain (theoretically)
only the binaries/libraries that are absolutely necessary to have a
functional system.  Everything else goes under /usr, thus allowing you to
keep a small root partition (= fast fsck if something goes wrong) and have
the bulk of your binaries on a separate device/partition which is mounted
read-only (= better security and no need to fsck it if something goes wrong).
This is also why root's home directory is typincally /root (or just / on some
older systems) instead of /home/root - if the system can't mount anything,
root's home directory will still be there.

Of course, if you've got /usr on the root partition, this distinction is no
longer particularly useful unless you want to keep the option open to move
/usr onto its own partition sometime in the future.

-- 
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