Running up2date -u generates the following failure message: The total size of the selected packages (247559 kb) exceeds your free disk space (226084 kb). Logically this means the /var default size is going to be a problem unless I change it to /home which has plenty to spare. This was a default server install that has /var partitioned off at 251MB
this is true when you have to upgrade many many packages. In this case, which is more than likely the exception rather than the rule, you can use --tmpdir to move the storage location. Otherwise, /var is considered the proper location for such data at the moment according to the FHS. See similar problem with Apache's DocRoot...