Partition Issues

[CrackedLCD]

I tried installing Java using the method described in these FAQs:

Installing Java

PluginDoc: Java FAQ

 

But it still doesn't work. So I tried a third method from this page:

SoS Wiki -- Installing Java

But when I try to install using urpmi, I get an error message saying I don't have enough room in my filesystem! And it's true? When I navigate to my Filesystem, it claims I have only 4MB left, but I have an 80GB hd and I've JUST installed Mandriva 2007 Spring Free a few days ago. When I navigate to my home folder, it says I have 62.8GB.

 

I'm still a n00b to Linux, so anybody's help would be greatly appreciated. Also can anybody tell me how to remove the first Java package that I installed? (it's j2sdk1.4.2_12).

 

Title Edited by phunni to reflect the problem more accurately...

[theYinYeti]

I don't know about Java (I didn't try yet), but for disk usage, could you give us the output of "df -h"?

 

Yves.

[CrackedLCD]

the output is:

 

/dev/hda1			 7.7G  7.3G  4.0M 100% /
/dev/hda6			  64G  794M   63G   2% /home

[dexter11]

You have two partitions. A root (/) and a home partition. Everything you install with urpmi goes into your root partition. Everything you download, work with etc plus your personal settings goes to your home partition and you have plenty of space there. Unfortunately it's not true for your root partition. I assume you tried out a lot of new software simply because you were curious and your root partition filled up.

You can simply delete a a few programs using the software manager. Or if you like to have a lots of software you can repartition your hd giving more space to your /. Unfortunately that requires a reinstall.

[theYinYeti]

Wow, your "/" partition is indeed in bad shape!

 

If you don't want to reinstall, I suggest you do the following; it is a "bad trick" but it works and can save you for the time being (do this as root):

# mkdir /home/.sys
# chmod 755 /home/.sys
# mv /opt /home/.sys/opt
# ln -s /home/.sys/opt /opt
# mv /usr/local /home/.sys/usr_local
# ln -s /home/.sys/usr_local /usr/local
# mv /usr/share/doc /home/.sys/usr_share_doc
# ln -s /home/.sys/usr_share_doc /usr/share/doc
# mv /usr/src /home/.sys/usr_src
# ln -s /home/.sys/usr_src /usr/src
# mv /var/cache/urpmi/rpms /home/.sys/var_cache_urpmi_rpms
# ln -s /home/.sys/var_cache_urpmi_rpms /var/cache/urpmi/rpms
# mv /var/log /home/.sys/var_log
# ln -s /home/.sys/var_log /var/log

 

This transparently moves some big directories from one partition to the other. You'll have to make things straight again eventually though.

 

In case you do reinstall your OS, you may want to use LVM, which allows you to later resize partitions using any LVM-aware LiveCD, without having to move data around or reinstall.

 

Yves.

Edited May 16, 2007 by theYinYeti

[scarecrow]

Instead of linking outside the root partition and removing applications, what about simply clearing the urpmi cache? Most things there are useful only for a rollback, anyway.

This could spare several hundreds of megabytes

[neddie]

Looks like there are at least three questions here:

 

How do I install java?

This is the subject of the thread, but isn't the real problem. If you had space on your hard drive, the install should go smoothly. In fact it sounds like you've already installed a version of java once already, and know where to look for instructions. In short, you can get it via urpmi, or you can get it as a download from sun.com.

 

Why is my hard drive full?

Could be because of a large number of programs installed, or it could be full of meaningless junk and log files and stuff. The application "filelight" is a good way of isolating where the space is being used up, but assuming that you haven't got space to install filelight right now, you can use Konqueror to look at the directories under "/" and look at the properties of each, to see how big it is. If it's several gig, go inside it and repeat to see which of the subdirectories under that one is so big, and so on. Or if you like the command line you can use the "du" command (probably with a "--max-depth" option) to print out the sizes of directories under "/".

 

How do I uninstall JDK1.4.2?

Depends how you installed it! :) If you got it via urpmi, then you can go into the "add/remove software" tool and select it for removal. If you downloaded an rpm.bin and installed it that way, then you will have extracted the rpm and installed that - again it should be visible in the add/remove software tool and you can remove it that way. Also note that there is a difference between the JDK (or j2sdk) and the much smaller JRE - for running things you just need a JRE (Java Runtime Environment).

 

Should I follow advice labelled "bad tricks"?

No, probably not! :)

 

Hope that helps!

[theYinYeti]

Sure! Follow neddie advice. What I wrote does work, but it is not a good way of doing things, and it was only meant as a way to let your system "breathe" a little until you made the situation clearer :)

 

Yves.

 

BTW: ++ for Filelight: it's an excellent tool. You have to understand what you see, though... Basically, it helps to know the basics of the Unix-like filesystem structure.

Edited May 16, 2007 by theYinYeti

[pindakoe]

If cleaning does not give enough free space, you could download a liveCD with gparted (which allows you to shrink/move/cerate/resize etc partitions) and then let hda1 grow at expense of /hda6. I use SystemRescueCd. There is a (very small) chance of data loss if the resizing does not finish succesfully.