[gentoo-user] Sharing file systems

[gentoo-user] Sharing file systems

[Sumeet Pal Singh]

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HI
This mail is not directly related to gentoo.
I have gentoo,ubuntu 5.10 on my system and using FC3 since it was released.

I tried to install FC4 on my system by sharing the swap and /home partition
between FC4 and ubuntu. The installation went well. I did not install KDE in
FC4.
I was well aware of permission screw ups that this could lead to, hence I
did not create any user (The UID and GID of root is preserved across Linux
distros)

I booted in as root and created a new user with UID and GID same as on
ubuntu.
Now I booted in GNOME and it was completely configured!!!! Moreover gaim
started and signed me in to all my accounts!!! This was first time login...

My question is that can sharing /home okay for a long run or will it lead to
problems.
Also can other file systems like /usr be shared along with this and if it
can be  then under what restrictions??
If any one has done this please let me know.

Sumeet

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Re: [gentoo-user] Sharing file systems

[Hemmann, Volker Armin]

On Sunday 19 March 2006 13:04, Sumeet Pal Singh wrote:
> HI
> This mail is not directly related to gentoo.
> I have gentoo,ubuntu 5.10 on my system and using FC3 since it was released.
>
> I tried to install FC4 on my system by sharing the swap and /home partition
> between FC4 and ubuntu. The installation went well. I did not install KDE
> in FC4.
> I was well aware of permission screw ups that this could lead to, hence I
> did not create any user (The UID and GID of root is preserved across Linux
> distros)
>
> I booted in as root and created a new user with UID and GID same as on
> ubuntu.
> Now I booted in GNOME and it was completely configured!!!! Moreover gaim
> started and signed me in to all my accounts!!! This was first time login...
>
> My question is that can sharing /home okay for a long run or will it lead
> to problems.
> Also can other file systems like /usr be shared along with this and if it
> can be  then under what restrictions??
> If any one has done this please let me know.
>

as long as you are using the same software versions on both systems (at least 
the major version number should be the same) it should be ok.

But why are you asking here and not at the ubuntu or fc mailing lists?
-- 
gentoo-user@gentoo.org mailing list

Re: [gentoo-user] Sharing file systems

[Holly Bostick]

Hemmann, Volker Armin schreef:
> On Sunday 19 March 2006 13:04, Sumeet Pal Singh wrote:
>> HI This mail is not directly related to gentoo. I have 
>> gentoo,ubuntu 5.10 on my system and using FC3 since it was 
>> released.
>> 
>> I tried to install FC4 on my system by sharing the swap and /home 
>> partition between FC4 and ubuntu. The installation went well. I did
>>  not install KDE in FC4.
<snip>
>> 
>> I booted in as root and created a new user with UID and GID same as
>>  on ubuntu. Now I booted in GNOME and it was completely 
>> configured!!!! Moreover gaim started and signed me in to all my 
>> accounts!!! This was first time login...
>> 
>> My question is that can sharing /home okay for a long run or will 
>> it lead to problems.
<snip>
>> 
> 
> as long as you are using the same software versions on both systems 
> (at least the major version number should be the same) it should be 
> ok.

That's what I would have thought, too. But frankly, it seems too much
maintenance to me, since as soon as the versions go out of sync, then
you're likely to have problems that are difficult to track down.

I have no problem with two users from different distros having their
/home folder on the same partition (in fact, my Gentoo install and my
SuSE install share a /home partition), but I wouldn't myself have the
two users merged that way across two Linux distros. I admit I did do
something similar when I had a massive multiboot (5 Linux distros, 2
Windows installs), for relatively easy compatibility with the shared
Windows partitions, but even then, every user had their own /home
folder, they just had the same UID and a shared GID (which I made the
same on all related distros). But then again, I don't store things "in"
my /home folder; I store them on their own partitions that are linked
into my home folder, so it's not as if it's a "space saver" for me to
have two separate distros using the same /home/username, and since I see
it as a relatively dangerous pain-in-the-butt, I don't do it.

/usr and the like is right out, obviously-- your libs will get creamed
pretty quick doing something like that, unless they're /exactly/ the
same across both distros, and that seems unlikely to me (or unlikely to
last long, if you're lucky temporarily).
> 
> But why are you asking here and not at the ubuntu or fc mailing 
> lists?

Good question.

Holly
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Re: [gentoo-user] Sharing file systems

[Hemmann, Volker Armin]

On Sunday 19 March 2006 13:55, Holly Bostick wrote:

> That's what I would have thought, too. But frankly, it seems too much
> maintenance to me, since as soon as the versions go out of sync, then
> you're likely to have problems that are difficult to track down.
>
> I have no problem with two users from different distros having their
> /home folder on the same partition (in fact, my Gentoo install and my
> SuSE install share a /home partition), but I wouldn't myself have the
> two users merged that way across two Linux distros. I admit I did do
> something similar when I had a massive multiboot (5 Linux distros, 2
> Windows installs), for relatively easy compatibility with the shared
> Windows partitions, but even then, every user had their own /home
> folder, they just had the same UID and a shared GID (which I made the
> same on all related distros). But then again, I don't store things "in"
> my /home folder; I store them on their own partitions that are linked
> into my home folder, so it's not as if it's a "space saver" for me to
> have two separate distros using the same /home/username, and since I see
> it as a relatively dangerous pain-in-the-butt, I don't do it.

well I did it once (twoce?), back when I used suse and tried some other stuff. 
I even caried the suse /home with my one and only user to slackware and later 
gentoo. I was just carefull to give my user always the same gid/uid and it 
worked hassle free. But it was not a real 'sharing' more a 'take over to the 
next distribution'.
-- 
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Re: [gentoo-user] Sharing file systems

[Neil Bothwick]

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On Sun, 19 Mar 2006 17:34:55 +0530, Sumeet Pal Singh wrote:

> My question is that can sharing /home okay for a long run or will it
> lead to problems.

Sharing the /home partition is fine, sharing a home directory between
distros will cause trouble. Even if you fix the permissions problems, by
giving the user the same UID on all distros, you'll have trouble when you
have different versions of the same software and the configuration files
get screwed.

The solution I have used is to have a separate home directory for each
distro, but keeping the same user name and ID. I named them nelz-gentoo,
nelz-mandrake etc, to make it easy to keep track. For data you want to
share between the distros, I used symlinks like
"ln -s ../nelz-gentoo/documents nlez-mandrake/documents".

Share things like you KDE/GNOME config files and it WILL bite you at some
time.


-- 
Neil Bothwick

Where the system is concerned, you're not allowed to ask `Why?'

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Re: [gentoo-user] Sharing file systems

[Hemmann, Volker Armin]

On Sunday 19 March 2006 16:57, Neil Bothwick wrote:

> Share things like you KDE/GNOME config files and it WILL bite you at some
> time.

no, it won't

kde uses for its major versionds (3.3, 3.4, 3.5) different directories 
(.kde3.3, .kde3.4, .kde3.5). Worst case - you have to set a symlink (.kde) 
before you log in.

I do not know, what gnome does, maybe the worst possible, but KDE is fine.
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Re: [gentoo-user] Sharing file systems

[Neil Bothwick]

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On Sun, 19 Mar 2006 17:13:37 +0100, Hemmann, Volker Armin wrote:

> > Share things like you KDE/GNOME config files and it WILL bite you at
> > some time.
> 
> no, it won't
> 
> kde uses for its major versionds (3.3, 3.4, 3.5) different directories 
> (.kde3.3, .kde3.4, .kde3.5). Worst case - you have to set a symlink
> (.kde) before you log in.

Major versions, yes, but not minor versions. The problems occur when you
upgrade one distro to a later minor version, run it, then go back to the
older version. config files are intended to be backward-compatible, not
forward-compatible. This isn't urban myth, I have experienced it.


-- 
Neil Bothwick

Nice computers don't go down.

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Re: [gentoo-user] Sharing file systems

[Hemmann, Volker Armin]

On Sunday 19 March 2006 18:32, Neil Bothwick wrote:
> On Sun, 19 Mar 2006 17:13:37 +0100, Hemmann, Volker Armin wrote:
> > > Share things like you KDE/GNOME config files and it WILL bite you at
> > > some time.
> >
> > no, it won't
> >
> > kde uses for its major versionds (3.3, 3.4, 3.5) different directories
> > (.kde3.3, .kde3.4, .kde3.5). Worst case - you have to set a symlink
> > (.kde) before you log in.
>
> Major versions, yes, but not minor versions. The problems occur when you
> upgrade one distro to a later minor version, run it, then go back to the
> older version. config files are intended to be backward-compatible, not
> forward-compatible. This isn't urban myth, I have experienced it.

and which desktop environment breaks compatibility in minor versions?
I had some config breakage between KDE3.4 and 3.5 related to some 3rd party 
decoration/theme, but in the minor versions, it shouldn't matter.

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Re: [gentoo-user] Sharing file systems

[Neil Bothwick]

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On Sun, 19 Mar 2006 19:24:10 +0100, Hemmann, Volker Armin wrote:

> > Major versions, yes, but not minor versions. The problems occur when
> > you upgrade one distro to a later minor version, run it, then go back
> > to the older version. config files are intended to be
> > backward-compatible, not forward-compatible. This isn't urban myth, I
> > have experienced it.
> 
> and which desktop environment breaks compatibility in minor versions?
> I had some config breakage between KDE3.4 and 3.5 related to some 3rd
> party decoration/theme, but in the minor versions, it shouldn't matter.

KDE, especially if one of the distros uses a customised version.

Running Gentoo and Mandrake with a shared home directory broke things in
very short order. Using separate home directories on a single shared
partition gave no such problems.

Every distro is different (otherwise, what would be the point?) so
sharing config files is always going to be risky.


-- 
Neil Bothwick

OS/2: Obsolete Soon, Too

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Re: [gentoo-user] Sharing file systems

[Hemmann, Volker Armin]

On Sunday 19 March 2006 20:25, Neil Bothwick wrote:
> On Sun, 19 Mar 2006 19:24:10 +0100, Hemmann, Volker Armin wrote:
> > > Major versions, yes, but not minor versions. The problems occur when
> > > you upgrade one distro to a later minor version, run it, then go back
> > > to the older version. config files are intended to be
> > > backward-compatible, not forward-compatible. This isn't urban myth, I
> > > have experienced it.
> >
> > and which desktop environment breaks compatibility in minor versions?
> > I had some config breakage between KDE3.4 and 3.5 related to some 3rd
> > party decoration/theme, but in the minor versions, it shouldn't matter.
>
> KDE, especially if one of the distros uses a customised version.
>
> Running Gentoo and Mandrake with a shared home directory broke things in
> very short order. Using separate home directories on a single shared
> partition gave no such problems.
>
> Every distro is different (otherwise, what would be the point?) so
> sharing config files is always going to be risky.

well, you just proved, why distros should not customize the software....
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Re: [gentoo-user] Sharing file systems

[Neil Bothwick]

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On Sun, 19 Mar 2006 23:50:56 +0100, Hemmann, Volker Armin wrote:

> > KDE, especially if one of the distros uses a customised version.
> >
> > Running Gentoo and Mandrake with a shared home directory broke things
> > in very short order. Using separate home directories on a single
> > shared partition gave no such problems.
> >
> > Every distro is different (otherwise, what would be the point?) so
> > sharing config files is always going to be risky.
> 
> well, you just proved, why distros should not customize the software....

"especially" != "only" :)


-- 
Neil Bothwick

A consultant is a person who borrows your watch, tells you what time it
is, pockets the watch, and sends you a bill for it.

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