Sharing $HOME between Ubuntu, Debian and CentOS
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From: Ignoramus25832 on 5 Apr 2010 15:32 On 2010-04-05, Robert Heller <heller(a)deepsoft.com> wrote: > At Mon, 05 Apr 2010 09:02:03 -0500 Ignoramus25832 <ignoramus25832(a)NOSPAM.25832.invalid> wrote: > >> >> On 2010-04-05, Bit Twister <BitTwister(a)mouse-potato.com> wrote: >> > On Mon, 05 Apr 2010 08:30:28 -0500, Ignoramus25832 wrote: >> >> >> >> I would like to set up multiple boot on my laptop, booting Ubuntu, >> >> Debian Lenny and CentOS 5. I would like to know how much of a trouble >> >> will I have, with things like gnome settings, .mozilla directory, >> >> etc. >> > >> > For starters, I recommend /home installed under / and not shared >> > across distributions. >> > >> > Different distribution releases can have different UID/GID. Desktop >> > managers can be different, not to mention applications. >> >> UID and GID I could take care of, I think. It is everything else that >> I am worried about. > > If the base version of Gnome, etc. are much the same, there should not > be serious problems. If FireFox's version is different, then rebooting > to a different O/S will put you though FF's 'Checking Extentions for > compatibility' process - anoying, but harmless, so long as the base > version is compatible (eg FF 3.0.x vs FF 3.0.y, where x != y). > > I 'upgraded' from Ubuntu 8.4 to CentOS 5.2, using the same /home FS and > nothing distrastorious happened (some desktop icons were 'lost', due to > some distro shuffling of stuff under /usr/share/). I commonly have > shuffled between 'adjenct' versions of RedHat when I have upgraded to a > new major version. OTOH, *I* don't use gnome (or any other desktop > manager). Worst was the need to re-compile personal applications and the > corresponding issues there -- normally I defer that sort of thing until > I am ready to abandon the older version and go 'production' with the new > version. I've preserved /etc/passwd et. al. across versions (merged > local users from the old /etc/passwd to the new /etc/passwd). OK, good to know. I would still need to manage UIDs and may ned to do some custom scripts to switch around .gnome* directories. i >> >> > New desktop manager might munge configuration files in $HOME and old >> > release might not run with new config files. >> > >> > For the UID/GID problem, I numbered all user accounts starting from 1500. >> > I have a script to save id/passwords for new installs and to use with >> > any distribution. >> > http://groups.google.com/group/alt.os.linux.mandriva/msg/320ac28aeedc5649?dmode=source >> > >> > For thunderbird, I have separate user accounts for each email address. >> > That keeps any malware confined just to that email address. >> > >> > Any browser usage also has it's own user account (bank, surfing, >> > credit card, ISP,...) >> > >> > Third part apps like thunderbird and firefox in shared partition /local/opt >> > That way I have the latest from the vendor and do not use the >> > Distribution's copy. >> > >> > >> > For common stuff shared across installs for $HOME, I link those back >> > to a shared partition, /accounts/$USER. >> > >> > Some link snippets. >> > .bash_logout -> /accounts/bittwister/.bash_logout >> > .bashrc -> /accounts/bittwister/.bashrc >> > lisp -> /accounts/bittwister/lisp >> > local -> /accounts/bittwister/local >> > mail -> /accounts/bittwister/mail >> > .signature -> /accounts/bittwister/.signature >> > .Skype -> /accounts/bittwister/.Skype >> > .Xresources -> /accounts/bittwister/.Xresources >> > >> > Other option to consider, use a virutal machine app like VirtuaBox. >> > http://virtualbox.org/ >> > >> > I created a large partition and put the VM distributions for testing in >> > there. >> >> Another thing that I could do, is have /home directory confined to >> every distro, and to have shared /data directory with movies and >> music. It would not be as elegant, but may be less troublesome. >> >> i >> >
From: Ignoramus25832 on 5 Apr 2010 15:36 I have some progress. I removed the old 120 GB disk and installed the new 500 GB disk. This is a laptop, by the way. Encrypting partitions is an absolute requirement for security reasons. Ubuntu Lucid Lynx (beta) failed to set up encrypted LVM even though that I chose all defaults. It is, no doubt, some kind of a bug, which will hopefully get fixed, but as of now installing it is not an option. Right now I am installing Debian Lenny, which actually seems to work slightly better. It is erasing the disk now, which seems like it will take a few hours. Worst case is that I will put the original disk back. i
From: The Natural Philosopher on 5 Apr 2010 16:02 Ignoramus25832 wrote: > I have some progress. > > I removed the old 120 GB disk and installed the new 500 GB disk. > > This is a laptop, by the way. Encrypting partitions is an absolute > requirement for security reasons. > > Ubuntu Lucid Lynx (beta) failed to set up encrypted LVM even though > that I chose all defaults. It is, no doubt, some kind of a bug, which > will hopefully get fixed, but as of now installing it is not an > option. > > Right now I am installing Debian Lenny, which actually seems to work > slightly better. It is erasing the disk now, which seems like it will > take a few hours. > > Worst case is that I will put the original disk back. > lenny is relatively stable: I've only got one annoying bug :-) > i
From: Bill Bonde {Colourless green ideas don't sleep furiously) on 5 Apr 2010 15:02 Ignoramus25832 wrote: > > I have some progress. > > I removed the old 120 GB disk and installed the new 500 GB disk. > > This is a laptop, by the way. Encrypting partitions is an absolute > requirement for security reasons. > I've got a 160 gig paperweight no one knows the password to you might have.
From: Mark Hobley on 5 Apr 2010 16:54
In comp.os.linux.misc The Natural Philosopher <tnp(a)invalid.invalid> wrote: > lenny is relatively stable: I've only got one annoying bug :-) Oh right. I had quite a few issues with Lenny: My keyboard stopped working, it keeps installing packages and then offering to autoremove them because they are not needed, I get stripes on the rxvt terminal window as applications get dragged over it, there are some nasty bugs in iceape, and the debugger plugins do not work so I cannot send the diagnostic information upstream to the maintainer,and the 3d graphics acceleration has mysteriously stopped working on my ATI Radeon 9200 graphics card. (It used to work in etch.) Oh, and tinyproxy might break when the next release becomes stable. (The Lenny version is better than the new one, but that is problem that has not yet come to pass.) And ... We still don't have brl-cad. I am really waiting for that. It doesn't look like we are going to get it in the next release either. Mark. -- Mark Hobley Linux User: #370818 http://markhobley.yi.org/ |