changing size of directory ??

[basic]

Hello All:

I made the /var directory too small.
Is there any way to change the size of a directory under Linux without reformating the HDD ?

John

[madaboutlinux]

You cannot resize the Linux partition once created. Only LVM partitions can be resized.

[HostMerit]

If you cannot reformat easily, I'd suggest symlinking folders. Aka add a second hard drive as /home2, then say, move /var/lib to /home2 like this. (assuming you have /home2 as a 2nd hard drive)

cd /var;cp -Rp lib /home2;mv lib lib.bak;ln -s /home2/lib;

That should sucessfully move /var/lib to /home2/lib, then create a virtual link, so /var/lib is correctly working, and its files are at /var/lib.bak/ Restart mysql, and should be okay, at which point you can move / trash the lib.bak directory (Keeping a backup is always suggested)

This is a hack job way of doing it, but sometimes it's the only option.

[chirpy]

Yup. Also, if you obtain an additional disk you can always create a larger /var partition on that and copy the contents from one to the other and then dismount the old one and use it for something else. I'd go with HostMerit's suggestion.