Bug 12789

The average user will find 12GB more than adequate for general use.

If you are a developer/tester/packager requiring lots of -devel and -debuginfo packages then you will no doubt have the foresight to set a large root partition.

This is simple to do using the 'custom' option in the installer disk partitioning screen http://doc.mageia.org/installer/4/en/content/doPartitionDisks.html

I think the 'default' is about right.

Just my 2 cents ;)

CC: (none) => zen25000

yep for me too

Assignee: bugsquad => thierry.vignaud

(In reply to Barry Jackson from comment #1)
> The average user will find 12GB more than adequate for general use.
> 
> If you are a developer/tester/packager requiring lots of -devel and
> -debuginfo packages then you will no doubt have the foresight to set a large
> root partition.
> 
> This is simple to do using the 'custom' option in the installer disk
> partitioning screen
> http://doc.mageia.org/installer/4/en/content/doPartitionDisks.html
> 
> I think the 'default' is about right.
> 
> Just my 2 cents ;)


When you select the "use the whole disk" option in a brand-new Mageia install, it doesn't tell you how big it's making the partitions.

I would say, as a developer who buys a new computer in 2014--a computer with a 500gb disk drive--it's so bizarre and unexpected that the installer would make such a small root partition by default, that I wouldn't think to use the "custom disk" option.  (Why would I?  12gb?  On a 500gb disk?  Who would think that's a good idea?)

You haven't really said what the harm is in increasing that default root size--all you've said is, "12gb is enough" and "developers should know better"--why do you think 12gb is an appropriate choice, over, say, 20 or 24gb?

Frankly speaking, I use Mageia because it just works, and has sensible defaults.  This is an exception to that--a 12gb root disk isn't a sensible default, it just seems like an installer setting that no one's thought to update.  And now I get to spend an evening resizing my partitions...

(In reply to Steve Havelka from comment #3)

> When you select the "use the whole disk" option in a brand-new Mageia
> install, it doesn't tell you how big it's making the partitions.

So it would seem. (I just tested it) To be honest I don't think I have ever used that option in probably a hundred or so Mageia installs. I need control over what goes where on my machine.

> I would say, as a developer who buys a new computer in 2014--a computer with
> a 500gb disk drive--it's so bizarre and unexpected that the installer would
> make such a small root partition by default, that I wouldn't think to use
> the "custom disk" option.  (Why would I?  12gb?  On a 500gb disk?  Who would
> think that's a good idea?)

I can't imagine why anyone would want to dedicate the whole drive to one OS, leaving no room for test installs etc. but each to his own.

> 
> You haven't really said what the harm is in increasing that default root
> size--all you've said is, "12gb is enough" and "developers should know
> better"--why do you think 12gb is an appropriate choice, over, say, 20 or
> 24gb?

I'm sure there are many who would argue just the opposite - it's all down to your use case. Does the person who installs a minimal DE (or none at all) want a root of 20GB?

A fresh Mga4 install with Mate DE uses:

Filesystem      Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/sda1        12G  3.2G  8.0G  28% /
/dev/sda6        14G   35M   14G   1% /home

It's a compromise, nothing more.

> 
> Frankly speaking, I use Mageia because it just works, and has sensible
> defaults.  This is an exception to that--a 12gb root disk isn't a sensible
> default, it just seems like an installer setting that no one's thought to
> update.  And now I get to spend an evening resizing my partitions...

I can understand your frustration, but no doubt you will use 'custom' in future ;)

(In reply to Barry Jackson from comment #4)
> (In reply to Steve Havelka from comment #3)
> 
> > When you select the "use the whole disk" option in a brand-new Mageia
> > install, it doesn't tell you how big it's making the partitions.
> 
> So it would seem. (I just tested it) To be honest I don't think I have ever
> used that option in probably a hundred or so Mageia installs. I need control
> over what goes where on my machine.


That's fine that you need control over your machine.  Are you suggesting that all Mageia users should want to have control over their machine, and should be made to set up their partitions by hand?


> 
> > I would say, as a developer who buys a new computer in 2014--a computer with
> > a 500gb disk drive--it's so bizarre and unexpected that the installer would
> > make such a small root partition by default, that I wouldn't think to use
> > the "custom disk" option.  (Why would I?  12gb?  On a 500gb disk?  Who would
> > think that's a good idea?)
> 
> I can't imagine why anyone would want to dedicate the whole drive to one OS,
> leaving no room for test installs etc. but each to his own.

Really?  You can't imagine that there are people, in the world, using computers every day, accomplishing work on a regular basis, who don't do "test installs etc"?

I can't tell if you're being serious or not.  If you really can't imagine that there are computer users in the world who don't do "test installs etc," then I'm not sure how I can explain that to you...




> 
> > 
> > You haven't really said what the harm is in increasing that default root
> > size--all you've said is, "12gb is enough" and "developers should know
> > better"--why do you think 12gb is an appropriate choice, over, say, 20 or
> > 24gb?
> 
> I'm sure there are many who would argue just the opposite - it's all down to
> your use case. Does the person who installs a minimal DE (or none at all)
> want a root of 20GB?

Do you have any real reason to suggest that "many who would argue just the opposite," or are you imagining these people, or (even worse) extrapolating from your own singular personal experience of doing "test installs etc"?

Or, to put it another way, if you could show me that someone surveyed the mga userbase and everyone liked the 12gb default, I'd drop the argument immediately.  But right now, I think you're taking a conservative position and defending the status quo (and against a really non-controversial change) without thinking about it.  I'm not sure why.

And I'm totally open to hear why 12gb is a good compromise, if you can provide a better argument than "it's always been this way" or "when I install it on a test VM, 12gb is enough for me".

A survey of user preferences, or even a survey of how many packages people tend to install after they've used their systems for a while--something, anything, to defend this choice, is better than "well it's always been that way".





> 
> A fresh Mga4 install with Mate DE uses:
> 
> Filesystem      Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
> /dev/sda1        12G  3.2G  8.0G  28% /
> /dev/sda6        14G   35M   14G   1% /home
> 
> It's a compromise, nothing more.
> 
> > 
> > Frankly speaking, I use Mageia because it just works, and has sensible
> > defaults.  This is an exception to that--a 12gb root disk isn't a sensible
> > default, it just seems like an installer setting that no one's thought to
> > update.  And now I get to spend an evening resizing my partitions...
> 
> I can understand your frustration, but no doubt you will use 'custom' in
> future ;)


I admin a number of Linux servers, write a lot of software (both free and proprietary), and I use Mageia linux because it has mostly sensible defaults.  I don't want to use a Linux that I have to fiddle with and configure all the time.  For me, this is an alternative to Windows, not an alternative to Slackware.

I also recommend Mageia to people, and I'm a little wary now that I'm going to have to start telling them, "ok, let's set aside an evening to resize your disk partitions, because Chuckles over there thinks that 12gb was good enough for his grandpappy and by gum it's good enough for him"...  I know, tough to imagine...

(In reply to Steve Havelka from comment #5)
> (In reply to Barry Jackson from comment #4)
> > (In reply to Steve Havelka from comment #3)
>  Are you suggesting that all Mageia users should want to have control over 
> their machine, and should be made to set up their partitions by hand?
> 
Not at all - just those who have specific needs.
 
> I can't tell if you're being serious or not.  If you really can't imagine
> that there are computer users in the world who don't do "test installs etc,"
> then I'm not sure how I can explain that to you...
> 
I was referring to developers etc. like you, not everyone.

> think you're taking a conservative position
> and defending the status quo (and against a really non-controversial change)
> without thinking about it.  I'm not sure why.
> 
I'm not dead against it - I never said that. I simply gave my personal opinion and attempted to explain why *I* feel that the current default is OK.

> And I'm totally open to hear why 12gb is a good compromise, if you can
> provide a better argument than "it's always been this way" or "when I
> install it on a test VM, 12gb is enough for me".

I never made those arguments.
> 
> A survey of user preferences, or even a survey of how many packages people
> tend to install after they've used their systems for a while--something,
> anything, to defend this choice, is better than "well it's always been that
> way".

Again, I never said that, in fact IIRC it was increased from 8GB to 12GB for Mga3.

OK that's my last comment here, as I have no more to say.

I'm sure others will have opinions :)

Hi all,

Here is a patch that increases the default root partition size from 12gb to 18gb:

---


From c53abd8b1ccb0b5818521c7cfd0e664390ebc86c Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Steve Havelka <smh377@yahoo.com>
Date: Mon, 17 Feb 2014 13:57:57 -0800
Subject: [PATCH] Increased max root size for simple whole-disk partitioning

---
 perl-install/fsedit.pm |    2 +-
 1 files changed, 1 insertions(+), 1 deletions(-)

diff --git a/perl-install/fsedit.pm b/perl-install/fsedit.pm
index d6c9a16..4e64ad2 100644
--- a/perl-install/fsedit.pm
+++ b/perl-install/fsedit.pm
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ use fs;
 # min_hd_size: only suggest this partition if the hd size is bigger than that
 %suggestions = (
   N_("simple") => [
-    { mntpoint => "/",     size => MB(300), fs_type => defaultFS(), ratio => 10, maxsize => MB(12300) },
+    { mntpoint => "/",     size => MB(300), fs_type => defaultFS(), ratio => 10, maxsize => MB(18500) },
     { mntpoint => "swap",  size => MB(128), fs_type => 'swap', ratio => 1,  maxsize => MB(4000) },
     { mntpoint => "/home", size => MB(300), fs_type => defaultFS(), ratio => 8,  min_hd_size => MB(12000) },
   ], N_("with /usr") => [
-- 
1.7.0.4


---


best,

Steve

For the reference, this is being discussed on the dev ML currently: https://ml.mageia.org/l/arc/dev/2014-12/msg00330.html and further

CC: (none) => remi

This bug has been fixed in Mageia 5 RC.

Status: NEW => RESOLVED
Version: 4 => Cauldron
Resolution: (none) => FIXED
Whiteboard: (none) => MGA4TOO