root directory being filled?

[delfinnium]

Hi all

I've had a clean reinstall of my linux mint and everything is good... until just today a thing popped up to say that my root is full.

D: I had given it 4GB when I reinstalled linux mint, leaving everything to my home drive. Now what I read is that root IS required in larger volumes.

So what can I do? I have plenty of space in /home, and I don't particularly want to reinstall everything. Where is the files where I can delete/clear my cache? How do I go about doing it?

(In nice easy steps because I can't actually find this .tmp or .var folders that other websites say I must look in.)

Comments

[doldonius]

Swap file improvements never created big flame wars. Guess that's why the fact remains generally unknown. Also, everything said may be wrong if using hibernation.

It depends on which distro you're using...

Indeed. The strategy above is aimed at a Debian desktop. Should've mentioned it.

running an Apache server and using suexec

Now, that's a bit tricky. But generally, you only need to keep the cgi-bin subdirectory in the right place and with the right rights. So on my server users' document roots are in their ~/public_html, and their cgi-bin subdirs are created in /var/www and symlinked from ~/public_html.

Nobody uses cgi-bin these days, though. It's all PHP and 'Help, my site's got pwned again.'

Some FTP servers won't let remote users to follow symlinks and even mounts, either. Well, it's security vs usability, as always.

having more than one HDD, with disks the size they are nowadays, isn't something that common

Most hardware sellers here in Siberia let you customise your system right at the counter. Some even don't void the warranty on preinstalled components if you modify it later. Never imagined this could be a problem elsewhere.

Still, having multiple disks is generally a good idea. At least until the blessed times to come when home users will have an affordable backup solution once again.