bind9 not honoring function of /var/cache

[m00dawg]

Binary package hint: bind9

According to the Linux FS standard (http://www.pathname.com/fhs/pub/fhs-2.3.html#VARCACHEAPPLICATIONCACHEDATA), applications "must be able to regenerate or restore the data" within /var/cache. The problem is that, if /var/cache/bind does not exist, instead of creating the directory, bind refuses to start. This poses a problem for systems which are using tmpfs to limit the amount of accesses to disk (such as when running the OS on a small CompactFlash card where writes need be limited).

The init script would likely be used to fix this by testing if the directory exists and, if not, simply creating it.

1)
root@filedawg:/etc/bind# lsb_release -rd
Description: Ubuntu 10.10
Release: 10.10

2)
root@filedawg:/etc/bind# apt-cache policy bind9
bind9:
  Installed: 1:9.7.1.dfsg.P2-2
  Candidate: 1:9.7.1.dfsg.P2-2
  Version table:
 *** 1:9.7.1.dfsg.P2-2 0
        500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ maverick/main i386 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

3) Bind starts via init script and creates /var/cache/bind if it does not exists

4) Bind fails to start because /var/cache/bind does not exists, violating the Linux FHS.

[Chuck Short (zulcss)]

Thanks for the patch we will have a look at this for natty.

chuck