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Recent Debian and Ubuntu systems symlink (by default, possibly with exceptions) /bin, /sbin, and /lib* to their counterparts in /usr. Older systems may be able

Recent Debian and Ubuntu systems symlink (by default, possibly with exceptions) /bin, /sbin, and /lib* to their counterparts in /usr. Older systems may be able to perform the merge by installing the "usrmerge" package. I believe Arch takes it further and combines /bin and /sbin (and /usr/sbin) by symlinking them to /usr/bin.

the_af 7y ago
Do you know in which Ubuntu version this showed up? I just tested on my Ubuntu 16.04 (I know, I know) and they are not symlinked.
- andreareina 7y ago
  18.04 here, /bin and /usr/bin are still different.
- therealjumbo 7y ago
  I think it was done in Debian 10 which was released last summer. So you'll probably need a Ubuntu version newer than that.
- oftenwrong 7y ago
  I believe Ubuntu started being usrmerged-by-default in 19.04 (Disco Dingo), although the release notes do not mention it. On 16.04 you can usrmerge your system by installing the usrmerge package: https://packages.ubuntu.com/xenial/usrmerge https://packages.ubuntu.com/xenial/usrmerge
kseistrup 7y ago
Correct, ArchLinux symlinks /bin, /sbin and /usr/sbin to /usr/bin.
- shrimp_emoji 7y ago
  Confirmed on Manjaro (which is Arch-based) as well.
- majewsky 7y ago
  Also /lib to /usr/lib.
gweinberg 7y ago
Doesn't this seem backwards? Given that the usr prefix doesn't mean anything anymore, wouldn't it make more sense to just put everything in /bin and keep /usr/bin as a symlink for backwards compatibility and eventually drop it?
- bonzini 7y ago
  Putting everything in a single directory allows you to mount it from a remote for system with a single mount point. /usr means "the part of the OS that is the same across all hosts".
  - gweinberg 7y ago
    Everything is always in a single directory, it's called "/". I don't see why you think the files under /usr are particularly likely to be remote mounted.
    - afiori 7y ago
      If you remotely mount "/" then you ran out of namespace for non-remote files.
  - sjmulder 7y ago
    Isn’t that supposed to be share/ and maybe a few others? bin/ and lib/ are architecture specific.
oat_bravo_nap 7y ago
Here are the wiki pages for the move in Fedora and Ubuntu: https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Features/UsrMove https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Features/UsrMove https://wiki.debian.org/UsrMerge https://wiki.debian.org/UsrMerge

the_af 7y ago

Do you know in which Ubuntu version this showed up? I just tested on my Ubuntu 16.04 (I know, I know) and they are not symlinked.

andreareina 7y ago
18.04 here, /bin and /usr/bin are still different.
therealjumbo 7y ago
I think it was done in Debian 10 which was released last summer. So you'll probably need a Ubuntu version newer than that.
oftenwrong 7y ago
I believe Ubuntu started being usrmerged-by-default in 19.04 (Disco Dingo), although the release notes do not mention it. On 16.04 you can usrmerge your system by installing the usrmerge package: https://packages.ubuntu.com/xenial/usrmerge https://packages.ubuntu.com/xenial/usrmerge

kseistrup 7y ago

Correct, ArchLinux symlinks /bin, /sbin and /usr/sbin to /usr/bin.

shrimp_emoji 7y ago
Confirmed on Manjaro (which is Arch-based) as well.
majewsky 7y ago
Also /lib to /usr/lib.

gweinberg 7y ago

Doesn't this seem backwards? Given that the usr prefix doesn't mean anything anymore, wouldn't it make more sense to just put everything in /bin and keep /usr/bin as a symlink for backwards compatibility and eventually drop it?

bonzini 7y ago
Putting everything in a single directory allows you to mount it from a remote for system with a single mount point. /usr means "the part of the OS that is the same across all hosts".
- gweinberg 7y ago
  Everything is always in a single directory, it's called "/". I don't see why you think the files under /usr are particularly likely to be remote mounted.
  - afiori 7y ago
    If you remotely mount "/" then you ran out of namespace for non-remote files.
- sjmulder 7y ago
  Isn’t that supposed to be share/ and maybe a few others? bin/ and lib/ are architecture specific.

oat_bravo_nap 7y ago

Here are the wiki pages for the move in Fedora and Ubuntu: https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Features/UsrMove https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Features/UsrMove https://wiki.debian.org/UsrMerge https://wiki.debian.org/UsrMerge