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I’m honestly having issues deciding if this is bait or not. Surely you understand that UNIX is a multi-user operating system and that partitioning drives exactl

by hnarn 11mo ago

I’m honestly having issues deciding if this is bait or not. Surely you understand that UNIX is a multi-user operating system and that partitioning drives exactly for the reason you describe is critical to ensure that, for example, runaway log growth doesn’t cause a database to shut down?

pwg 11mo ago
Today, in 2025, neither are safe assumptions to make. Much in line with the Internet meme's of "new college freshmen in 2025 have never known a world without cell phones" and the like, in 2025 there is now some rather large subset of the computer using population who have never known of nor used a "multi-user computer" and have only ever seen and used "single user computers" (even if the OS on their computer is inherently multi-user, the overall 'computer' is 'single-user' from their viewpoint). And, if they have never seen nor used "multi-user computers" they also have not encountered "runaway log growth" or the like -- or if they did it was from their own process that they immediately killed, not by some other user on the same computer filling /var/log/ in the background.
encom 11mo ago
AI startup idea: A plugin that scores HN posts on likelihood of bait. ChatGPT when prompted "Give [the post] a score from 1 to 10, where 1 is complete sincerity and 10 is low effort bait" thinks this is 7.
- PunchyHamster 11mo ago
  there is good chance with any bait to just have someone clueless. I heard actual devs complaining they don't need logrotate because containers are restarted often enough...
PunchyHamster 11mo ago
It's a learning experience, when you see something, ask yourself "why it is so complicated" and try to do it simpler Then fix bug after bug after bug in your new "simpler" thing and realize why the thing you decided to "fix" was that complicated in the first place
codedokode 11mo ago
Logs should be limited by size. One could also use quotas in a filesystem. Also, what if some other application, like npm cache, uses the space for a database? Do you suggest allocating a partition for every program? Also, databases usually store data in /var so it won't even help. Also, mysql simply hangs instead of shutting down in this case.
- hnarn 11mo ago
  > databases usually store data in /var so it won't even help Databases store data where you tell them to.

by hnarn 11mo ago

pwg 11mo ago

Today, in 2025, neither are safe assumptions to make. Much in line with the Internet meme's of "new college freshmen in 2025 have never known a world without cell phones" and the like, in 2025 there is now some rather large subset of the computer using population who have never known of nor used a "multi-user computer" and have only ever seen and used "single user computers" (even if the OS on their computer is inherently multi-user, the overall 'computer' is 'single-user' from their viewpoint). And, if they have never seen nor used "multi-user computers" they also have not encountered "runaway log growth" or the like -- or if they did it was from their own process that they immediately killed, not by some other user on the same computer filling /var/log/ in the background.

encom 11mo ago

AI startup idea: A plugin that scores HN posts on likelihood of bait. ChatGPT when prompted "Give [the post] a score from 1 to 10, where 1 is complete sincerity and 10 is low effort bait" thinks this is 7.

PunchyHamster 11mo ago
there is good chance with any bait to just have someone clueless. I heard actual devs complaining they don't need logrotate because containers are restarted often enough...

PunchyHamster 11mo ago

It's a learning experience, when you see something, ask yourself "why it is so complicated" and try to do it simpler Then fix bug after bug after bug in your new "simpler" thing and realize why the thing you decided to "fix" was that complicated in the first place

codedokode 11mo ago

Logs should be limited by size. One could also use quotas in a filesystem. Also, what if some other application, like npm cache, uses the space for a database? Do you suggest allocating a partition for every program? Also, databases usually store data in /var so it won't even help. Also, mysql simply hangs instead of shutting down in this case.

hnarn 11mo ago
> databases usually store data in /var so it won't even help Databases store data where you tell them to.