[svlug] Security question: read-only drive

[Dagmar d'Surreal]

On Thu, 8 Feb 2001, Rick Moen wrote:

> begin Drew Bertola quotation:
> 
> > /etc/mtab doesn't seem to work at all when symlinked from /etc.  I
> > tried.
> 
> Well, that's why I said "_Try_ using symlinks."  I had no idea if it
> would work.
> 
> mtab is the last file Red Hat still has in /etc/ that ought to be under
> /var/run.  There used to be another one -- utmp?  (Something else.)
> They're that close to FHS compliance in /etc, but have been stalled at
> that point for years.  
> 
> You could recompile everything relevant, to relocate the file where it
> belongs.  Personally, I elected to use other distributions that take the
> FHS more seriously.

The location of the mtab file isn't in a nice autoconf variable in the
package that it's in.  It would require spooky hacking of mount and a few
other binaries *all at the same time* to move it, and you'd be screwed if
you tried to do a live upgrade of a system to the new format.  With any
luck they will get brave enough to change it once gcc 2.95.3 comes out and
they jump to 8.0.  ;)