truncating root directory of a file system

[David E. Miran]

In article <511 at cdx39.UUCP>, jc at cdx39.UUCP (John Chambers) writes:
> Hey, here's a good puzzle for a Unix file-system wizard.
> You know how some directories (like /usr/spool/uucp) can
> get really huge... The usual solution is to rebuild
> the directory - you rename it, create a new one in its
> place, and moving the contents from the old one to the new.
> 
> Well, there's a case where this doesn't work too well. 
> This is the root directory of a file system.
There is a very straightforeward solution to this problem, which
also cleans up other problems related to poor allocation of parts
of the disk unit.
1.  Do a full save of the unit to tape.
2.  Unmount the unit.
3.  Recreate a file system on the unit using newfs or mkfs.
4.  Do a full restore of the unit from tape.
5.  Do a full save again since all the creation dates change.
This is also a good time to check your average file size and perhaps
recreate the unit with a larger number of bytes per inode.
The Berkeley default is very conservative.  On our system we gain
several megabytes of useable space per 150 M partition by increasing
the number of bytes per inode.
-- 
David E. Miran         ...!{seismo,harvard,topaz,ihnp4}!uwvax!uwslh!dem
Wisconsin State Hygiene Lab    or    uwslh!dem at rsch.wisc.edu
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