Why split bin + sbin?

Posted Oct 3, 2025 9:51 UTC (Fri) by farnz (subscriber, #17727)
In reply to: Why split bin + sbin? by joib
Parent article: Alpine Linux plans /usr merge

The best motivation I've seen for /usr (rather than directly in /) is that it enables a setup where you do not mount anything over persistent filesystem volumes, and you swap persistent volumes for an upgrade.

That's great for image-based distributions; I can upgrade by downloading and writing a new version of /usr to my workstation, and then swap on reboot. But for this to be possible transparently to non-admin users (ones who don't install software to /, but instead use something like Flatpak to install it to their own home directory), you need non-image distros to agree that everything lives in /usr, too.

Why split bin + sbin?

Posted Oct 6, 2025 21:23 UTC (Mon) by ballombe (subscriber, #9523) [Link] (2 responses)

This will lead to ossification of the system.

Why split bin + sbin?

Posted Oct 7, 2025 5:18 UTC (Tue) by Cyberax (✭ supporter ✭, #52523) [Link]

What do you mean?

Why split bin + sbin?

Posted Oct 7, 2025 9:14 UTC (Tue) by farnz (subscriber, #17727) [Link]

How?

If I don't want an image based system, I can continue to run with a writeable /usr and change the contents freely, just like I can today. If I want an image based system, I can build my own images, or I can download other people's images.