Cant remove /var, in relocating /var to a symbolic link

[Jerry McAllister]

On Mon, Oct 06, 2008 at 03:31:42PM -0700, jaymax wrote:

> 
> I am attempting to relocate /var to avoid files system full issues. 
> Using a -
> 	mkdir /usr/var
> 	cd /var
> 	tar cf - . | (cd /usr/var; tar xf - )
> 	cd /
> 	rm -rf /var
> 	ln -s /usr/var /var
> approach
> 
> at the 
> rm -rf /var step, the following was received
> 	rm: /var/empty: Operation not permitted
> 	rm: /var/named/dev: Device busy
> 	rm: /var/named: Directory not empty
> 	rm: /var: Device busy
> 
> Te contents of /var at this site was
> 	ls /var
> 	./      ../     empty/  named/
> and
> 	ls /var/empty/
> 	./      ../
> 	
> 	ls -l /var/empty/
> 	total 4
> 	dr-xr-xr-x  2 root  wheel  512 Nov  3  2005 ./
> 	drwxr-xr-x  4 root  wheel  512 Oct  6 14:02 ../
> 
> Can't change permissons either
> 	chmod 755 /var/empty/
> 	chmod: /var/empty/: Operation not permitted
> 
> while 
> 	ls /var/named/
> 	./      ../     dev/
> 	ls -l /var/named/
> 	total 5
> 	drwxr-xr-x  3 root  wheel  512 Oct  4 19:46 ./
> 	drwxr-xr-x  5 root  wheel  512 Oct  6 14:16 ../
> 	dr-xr-xr-x  4 root  wheel  512 Jan  1  2002 dev/
> 
> 	ls -l /var/named/dev
> 	total 0
> Could chmod755 but still cant remove, dev, dir empty but => Device busy
> 
> How can I remove these two directories so that I can create a link from
> /usr/var to /var

The best way is to boot the 'fixit' image and do it from that.
On a running system, the var directory is likely to always be busy.
You might also be able to do it just from a boot to single user mode
if the /var directory is not mounted.   

But, I would suggest actually not moving the whole /var filesystem.
Rather, move some of the move heavily used directories such
as /var/log and /var/mail, maybe even /var/db and /var/spool.  Copy 
them over to the larger space and make sym links in /var to the new
ones.   Careful of your naming so you don't get confused on a 
sleepy morning.    I tend to name the new alternates something
like  var.log and var.mail, etc which helps keep them straight
in my mind.

////jerry  

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