Daniel Reurich wrote on 16.11.18 10:11:
[...]
> So... for Devuan, do we want to default to a merged /usr in our coming
> release of Beowulf or are we going to resist another pointless
> rearranging of the deck chairs...
>
> Keen to get some feedback on this
[...]

I cast my vote in favor of making merged /usr the default.

My reasoning behind this is as follows (disclaimer: rant mode = medium):

The practice of storing system files in a secondary hierarchy below
/usr was born out of disk space constraints on hardware that has been
obsoleted many, many decades ago. It is and has always been an ill
conceived kludge that somehow managed to cross the times and still be
present on some Unix-like operating systems.

The artificial separation of system files into the "essential" and
"non-essential" categories has always been a vague and arbitrary one,
and in the Debian case is botched since at least Wheezy, effectively
rendering the endeavor of making /usr a mount point for a separate disk
partition a nontrivial task (think initramfs).

The fact that split /usr has been abused to craft pathologic setups
like network mounted /usr volumes shared across multiple installations
is a moot point. This practice is demonstrably a recipe for disaster
when used for anything but fun experiments on non-critical toy
installations or as a demonstration piece on how to /not/ design a
reliable system.

Split /usr is an abomination that should have been put to rest long ago,
only to be referred to as quirky anecdote in some obscure footnote.
Merging /usr back is a small step on the long way to restore the FSH to
what it was meant to be.

(rant off)

TL;DR:
The Unix file system hierarchy is a mess. A merged /usr subtree brings
back a tiny little bit of sanity. Thus I vote for it to be the default
for new Devuan installations.

Best regards,
Urban


--
Sapere aude!