[gentoo-user] Can I share my /boot and swap partitions with other Linux installs?

[gentoo-user] Can I share my /boot and swap partitions with other Linux installs?

[Daevid Vincent]

Currently I dual-boot my notebook with XP and Gentoo.

I'm curious to try out all this beryl stuff and see what all the rage is
with Ubuntu and the kids these days.

Can I install Ubuntu in yet another partition and have it share the /boot
and swap ones I already have, or do I need dedicated ones for that distro
too?

(and I did try to get beryl working in Gentoo, but couldn't do it. Before I
spend too much time messing with that, I figured I'd see if it was even
worth it. Since I have nvidia card, I can't run the Ubuntu live CD and beryl
as it needs to install the proprietary drivers. )


D.Vin

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Re: [gentoo-user] Can I share my /boot and swap partitions with other Linux installs?

[Dale]

Daevid Vincent wrote:
> Currently I dual-boot my notebook with XP and Gentoo.
>
> I'm curious to try out all this beryl stuff and see what all the rage is
> with Ubuntu and the kids these days.
>
> Can I install Ubuntu in yet another partition and have it share the /boot
> and swap ones I already have, or do I need dedicated ones for that distro
> too?
>
> (and I did try to get beryl working in Gentoo, but couldn't do it. Before I
> spend too much time messing with that, I figured I'd see if it was even
> worth it. Since I have nvidia card, I can't run the Ubuntu live CD and beryl
> as it needs to install the proprietary drivers. )
>
>
> D.Vin
>
>   

You should be able to share /boot and swap without any problems.  Just
make sure you name the kernels something different or that each distro
is set up to use the same kernel version.

Some people share the /home too.  I have read that can be tricky
though.  May need the same or close to the same version of KDE for example.

Hope that helps.

Dale

:-)  :-) :-)  :-)

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[gentoo-user] Re: Can I share my /boot and swap partitions with other Linux installs?

[»Q«]

In <news:461078C9.9080509@exceedtech.net>,
Dale <dalek@exceedtech.net> wrote:

> You should be able to share /boot and swap without any problems.  Just
> make sure you name the kernels something different or that each distro
> is set up to use the same kernel version.

Why the same kernel version?

-- 
»Q«

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Re: [gentoo-user] Re: Can I share my /boot and swap partitions with other Linux installs?

[Dale]

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»Q« wrote:
> In <news:461078C9.9080509@exceedtech.net>,
> Dale <dalek@exceedtech.net> wrote:
>
>   
>> You should be able to share /boot and swap without any problems.  Just
>> make sure you name the kernels something different or that each distro
>> is set up to use the same kernel version.
>>     
>
> Why the same kernel version?
>
>   

Well, if he uses nvidia drivers I think it will need to be the same. 
I'm not sure about mixing a 2.4 and say a 2.6 either.  It sort of
depends on what he is running.

I just remember doing that with Mandrake once a long time ago.  I used a
separate kernel for each distro.  It worked.

Dale

:-) :-)  :-)



-- 
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Copy n paste then remove the -remove-me- part.


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[gentoo-user] Re: Can I share my /boot and swap partitions with other Linux installs?

[»Q«]

In <news:4610838D.4020608@exceedtech.net>,
Dale <dalek@exceedtech.net> wrote:

> »Q« wrote:
> > In <news:461078C9.9080509@exceedtech.net>,
> > Dale <dalek@exceedtech.net> wrote:
> >
> >   
> >> You should be able to share /boot and swap without any problems.
> >> Just make sure you name the kernels something different or that
> >> each distro is set up to use the same kernel version.
> >
> > Why the same kernel version?
> 
> Well, if he uses nvidia drivers I think it will need to be the same. 
> I'm not sure about mixing a 2.4 and say a 2.6 either.  It sort of
> depends on what he is running.

Any drivers he's using should be for the kernel they'll be
used with.  He's only talking about sharing /boot and swap, not sharing
drivers.

-- 
»Q«

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Re: [gentoo-user] Re: Can I share my /boot and swap partitions with other Linux installs?

[Dale]

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»Q« wrote:
> In <news:4610838D.4020608@exceedtech.net>,
> Dale <dalek@exceedtech.net> wrote:
>
>   
>> »Q« wrote:
>>     
>>> In <news:461078C9.9080509@exceedtech.net>,
>>> Dale <dalek@exceedtech.net> wrote:
>>>
>>>   
>>>       
>>>> You should be able to share /boot and swap without any problems.
>>>> Just make sure you name the kernels something different or that
>>>> each distro is set up to use the same kernel version.
>>>>         
>>> Why the same kernel version?
>>>       
>> Well, if he uses nvidia drivers I think it will need to be the same. 
>> I'm not sure about mixing a 2.4 and say a 2.6 either.  It sort of
>> depends on what he is running.
>>     
>
> Any drivers he's using should be for the kernel they'll be
> used with.  He's only talking about sharing /boot and swap, not sharing
> drivers.
>
>   

True.  It's to late for me to be giving to many suggestions.  LOL

I will say this though, not sharing /boot could turn into a nightmare. 
I did that once.  It was the most confusing thing I ever saw.  It is
really confusing right now.  ;-)

I'm going to bed.  Zzzzzz.

Dale

:-)  :-)  :-)

-- 
www.myspace.com/-remove-me-dalek1967

Copy n paste then remove the -remove-me- part.


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Re: [gentoo-user] Re: Can I share my /boot and swap partitions with other Linux installs?

[Rob Rutherford]

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I have dual booted different distros on a single box sharing boot and swap
done it worked fine.  There was some lag in startup when changing systems.
My guess would be differences in swap.

Used different Kernel version, and everything.

Just be very careful, some install scripts use symlinks in /boot

It also drove some people who didn't understand what I did at first nuts.
:-)



On 4/2/07, Dale <dalek@exceedtech.net> wrote:
>
>  »Q« wrote:
>
> In <news:4610838D.4020608@exceedtech.net> <news:4610838D.4020608@exceedtech.net>,
> Dale <dalek@exceedtech.net> <dalek@exceedtech.net> wrote:
>
>    »Q« wrote:
>
>  In <news:461078C9.9080509@exceedtech.net> <news:461078C9.9080509@exceedtech.net>,
> Dale <dalek@exceedtech.net> <dalek@exceedtech.net> wrote:
>
>
>        You should be able to share /boot and swap without any problems.
> Just make sure you name the kernels something different or that
> each distro is set up to use the same kernel version.
>
>  Why the same kernel version?
>
>  Well, if he uses nvidia drivers I think it will need to be the same.
> I'm not sure about mixing a 2.4 and say a 2.6 either.  It sort of
> depends on what he is running.
>
>  Any drivers he's using should be for the kernel they'll be
> used with.  He's only talking about sharing /boot and swap, not sharing
> drivers.
>
>
> True.  It's to late for me to be giving to many suggestions.  LOL
>
> I will say this though, not sharing /boot could turn into a nightmare.  I
> did that once.  It was the most confusing thing I ever saw.  It is really
> confusing right now.  ;-)
>
> I'm going to bed.  Zzzzzz.
>
> Dale
>
> :-)  :-)  :-)
>
> --
> www.myspace.com/-remove-me-dalek1967
>
> Copy n paste then remove the -remove-me- part.
>
>

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Re: [gentoo-user] Re: Can I share my /boot and swap partitions with other Linux installs?

[Rob Rutherford]

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On 4/2/07, Rob Rutherford <rlrutherford@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
> I have dual booted different distros on a single box sharing boot and swap
> done it worked fine.  There was some lag in startup when changing systems.
> My guess would be differences in swap.
>
> Used different Kernel version, and everything.
>
> Just be very careful, some install scripts use symlinks in /boot
>
> It also drove some people who didn't understand what I did at first nuts.
> :-)
>
>
>
> On 4/2/07, Dale <dalek@exceedtech.net> wrote:
> >
> >  »Q« wrote:
> >
> > In <news:4610838D.4020608@exceedtech.net> <news:4610838D.4020608@exceedtech.net>,
> > Dale
> > <dalek@exceedtech.net> <dalek@exceedtech.net> wrote:
> >
> >    »Q« wrote:
> >
> >  In <news:461078C9.9080509@exceedtech.net> <news:461078C9.9080509@exceedtech.net>,
> > Dale
> > <dalek@exceedtech.net> <dalek@exceedtech.net> wrote:
> >
> >
> >        You should be able to share /boot and swap without any problems.
> > Just make sure you name the kernels something different or that
> > each distro is set up to use the same kernel version.
> >
> >  Why the same kernel version?
> >
> >  Well, if he uses nvidia drivers I think it will need to be the same.
> > I'm not sure about mixing a 2.4 and say a 2.6 either.  It sort of
> > depends on what he is running.
> >
> >  Any drivers he's using should be for the kernel they'll be
> > used with.  He's only talking about sharing /boot and swap, not sharing
> > drivers.
> >
> >
> > True.  It's to late for me to be giving to many suggestions.  LOL
> >
> > I will say this though, not sharing /boot could turn into a nightmare.
> > I did that once.  It was the most confusing thing I ever saw.  It is really
> > confusing right now.  ;-)
> >
> > I'm going to bed.  Zzzzzz.
> >
> > Dale
> >
> > :-)  :-)  :-)
> >
>

I have dual booted different distros on a single box sharing boot and swap
done it worked fine.  There was some lag in startup when changing systems.
My guess would be differences in swap.

Used different Kernel version, and everything.

Just be very careful, about the symlinks in /boot

It also drove some people who didn't understand what I did at first nuts.
:-)

I should be getting to sleep as well...

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Re: [gentoo-user] Can I share my /boot and swap partitions with other Linux installs?

[Norberto Bensa]

Daevid Vincent wrote:
> Can I install Ubuntu in yet another partition and have it share the /boot
> and swap ones I already have, 

Yes.
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Re: [gentoo-user] Can I share my /boot and swap partitions with other Linux installs?

[Vikas Kumar]

On 20:14 Sun 01 Apr     , Daevid Vincent wrote:
> 
> Can I install Ubuntu in yet another partition and have it share the /boot
> and swap ones I already have, or do I need dedicated ones for that distro
> too?
> 
you can and you should.

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[gentoo-user] Re: Can I share my /boot and swap partitions with other Linux installs?

[Alexander Skwar]

Daevid Vincent <daevid@daevid.com> wrote:


> Can I install Ubuntu in yet another partition and have it share the /boot
> and swap ones I already have, or do I need dedicated ones for that distro
> too?

No, you don't NEED to have seperate /boot partitions. The problem
might be, that the default filenames "overlap" in Gentoo and Ubuntu.
But if you make sure that this does not happen and if you setup
your bootloader (grub?) "properly", then all is fine.

Sharing swap is no problem at all.

Alexander Skwar

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Re: [gentoo-user] Re: Can I share my /boot and swap partitions with other Linux installs?

[Alan McKinnon]

On Monday 02 April 2007, Alexander Skwar wrote:
> Daevid Vincent <daevid@daevid.com> wrote:
> > Can I install Ubuntu in yet another partition and have it share the
> > /boot and swap ones I already have, or do I need dedicated ones for
> > that distro too?
>
> No, you don't NEED to have seperate /boot partitions. The problem
> might be, that the default filenames "overlap" in Gentoo and Ubuntu.
> But if you make sure that this does not happen and if you setup
> your bootloader (grub?) "properly", then all is fine.

I routinely set up machines for colleagues as triple-boot (Red Hat, 
Ubuntu, XP), and it's the easiest thing in the world. /boot is really 
just a convenient place to put kernel images and grub.conf where grub 
can find them at boot time.

There is a very slim outside chance that two distros might use the same 
name for a kernel, and one clobbers the other. If you want to avoid 
this, create /boot/ubuntu and /boot/redhat (adjust as appropriate), and 
let the distros install kernels into /boot. Then manually move them to 
the correct subdirectory and adjust the "kernel" and "initrd" entries 
in grub.conf to reflect the new path. 

Or you could just rename the kernel, config, initrd and System.map files 
by appending the distro name. There are many possible schemes, so use 
whatever floats your boat.

To save yourself much pain and grief, use one distro to install and 
maintain grub/lilo, and install the other distro *without* a boot 
loader. No distro requires a boot loader to work, as long as you have 
one that can find and load a kernel image, it all works out

alan


-- 
Optimists say the glass is half full,
Pessimists say the glass is half empty,
Developers say wtf is the glass twice as big as it needs to be?

Alan McKinnon
alan at linuxholdings dot co dot za
+27 82, double three seven, one nine three five
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Re: [gentoo-user] Re: Can I share my /boot and swap partitions with other Linux installs?

[Neil Bothwick]

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On Mon, 02 Apr 2007 08:41:18 +0200, Alexander Skwar wrote:

> No, you don't NEED to have seperate /boot partitions. The problem
> might be, that the default filenames "overlap" in Gentoo and Ubuntu.
> But if you make sure that this does not happen and if you setup
> your bootloader (grub?) "properly", then all is fine.

It can also get a little messy with various files in root from the
different distros. I've done this in the past, but I kept each distro's
files in a subdirectory.


-- 
Neil Bothwick

30 minutes of begging is not considered foreplay.

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Re: [gentoo-user] Re: Can I share my /boot and swap partitions with other Linux installs?

[Boyd Stephen Smith Jr.]

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On Monday 02 April 2007, galevsky@gmail.com wrote about '[gentoo-user] Re: 
Can I share my /boot and swap partitions with other Linux installs?':
> And what's about sharing /root ? is there any problem or not ? I never
> did it but was wondering about.

No, different distros will require slightly different layouts in /etc 
(which is normally part of the same mount as /) and, in particular, will 
install (and confuse each other with) distro-specific scripts 
in /etc/init.d.

-- 
Boyd Stephen Smith Jr.                     ,= ,-_-. =. 
bss03@volumehost.net                      ((_/)o o(\_))
ICQ: 514984 YM/AIM: DaTwinkDaddy           `-'(. .)`-' 
http://iguanasuicide.org/                      \_/     

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[gentoo-user] Re: Can I share my /boot and swap partitions with other Linux installs?

[galevsky]

/etc, /var, /usr, /bin and so on I can see the (potential) problems.
But just /root ? It is a must to have it does not contain important
tuned up files, does it ? It is just an account that root use for
admin task, so is there a known problem to share it ?

I used to mount /root aside from /.

Gal'

2007/4/2, Boyd Stephen Smith Jr. <bss03@volumehost.net>:
> On Monday 02 April 2007, galevsky@gmail.com wrote about '[gentoo-user] Re:
> Can I share my /boot and swap partitions with other Linux installs?':
> > And what's about sharing /root ? is there any problem or not ? I never
> > did it but was wondering about.
>
> No, different distros will require slightly different layouts in /etc
> (which is normally part of the same mount as /) and, in particular, will
> install (and confuse each other with) distro-specific scripts
> in /etc/init.d.
>
> --
> Boyd Stephen Smith Jr.                     ,= ,-_-. =.
> bss03@volumehost.net                      ((_/)o o(\_))
> ICQ: 514984 YM/AIM: DaTwinkDaddy           `-'(. .)`-'
> http://iguanasuicide.org/                      \_/
>
>
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Re: [gentoo-user] Re: Can I share my /boot and swap partitions with other Linux installs?

[Alan McKinnon]

On Tuesday 03 April 2007, galevsky@gmail.com wrote:
> /etc, /var, /usr, /bin and so on I can see the (potential) problems.
> But just /root ? It is a must to have it does not contain important
> tuned up files, does it ? It is just an account that root use for
> admin task, so is there a known problem to share it ?
>
> I used to mount /root aside from /.

Please don't top post.

The / partition on any sane system *must* contain at 
least /bin, /sbin, /etc, /lib and /root (if those dirs are not 
available all kinds of trouble erupts at start time).

init needs access to /etc/fstab so it can mount all the other file 
systems, so you automatically run into the /etc/init.d/ problems if you 
want to share /

What possible benefit could you gain from having /root on a separate 
filesystem? It's usually tiny, has very few data subdirs and it's size 
is a fraction of even a minimal /

alan



>
> Gal'
>
> 2007/4/2, Boyd Stephen Smith Jr. <bss03@volumehost.net>:
> > On Monday 02 April 2007, galevsky@gmail.com wrote about
> > '[gentoo-user] Re:
> >
> > Can I share my /boot and swap partitions with other Linux 
installs?':
> > > And what's about sharing /root ? is there any problem or not ? I
> > > never did it but was wondering about.
> >
> > No, different distros will require slightly different layouts in
> > /etc (which is normally part of the same mount as /) and, in
> > particular, will install (and confuse each other with)
> > distro-specific scripts in /etc/init.d.
> >
> > --
> > Boyd Stephen Smith Jr.                     ,= ,-_-. =.
> > bss03@volumehost.net                      ((_/)o o(\_))
> > ICQ: 514984 YM/AIM: DaTwinkDaddy           `-'(. .)`-'
> > http://iguanasuicide.org/                      \_/



-- 
Optimists say the glass is half full,
Pessimists say the glass is half empty,
Developers say wtf is the glass twice as big as it needs to be?

Alan McKinnon
alan at linuxholdings dot co dot za
+27 82, double three seven, one nine three five
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Re: [gentoo-user] Re: Can I share my /boot and swap partitions with other Linux installs?

[Boyd Stephen Smith Jr.]

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On Tuesday 03 April 2007 03:11:48 Alan McKinnon wrote:
> On Tuesday 03 April 2007, galevsky@gmail.com wrote:
> > /etc, /var, /usr, /bin and so on I can see the (potential) problems.
> > But just /root ? It is a must to have it does not contain important
> > tuned up files, does it ? It is just an account that root use for
> > admin task, so is there a known problem to share it ?
> >
> > I used to mount /root aside from /.

/root being separate shouldn't cause a lot of problems, although many 
programs 
idly write to $HOME so you may accumulate some files in the mountpoint, 
especially if you have to do any rescue procedures with /root mounted.  
That 
said, I don't suggest it.

If you have the habit of treating /root like a normal home directory (in 
which 
case it could grow large), I suggest you symlink /root/files (or similar) 
to /home/root (which you should create) and modify your habits slightly to 
use /root/files.

> The / partition on any sane system *must* contain at
> least /bin, /sbin, /etc, /lib and /root (if those dirs are not
> available all kinds of trouble erupts at start time).

initscripts and anything else that might be invoked before /home is mounted 
shouldn't use $HOME or /root, IMHO.  That said, it is generally assumed 
that /root is part of /, so you might find some (IMHO broken) parts of the 
init system that depend of /root being available before /home is.

I once wanted to stick /etc on RAID6, but have / on RAID0 (along 
with /bin, /sbin, and /lib), so I've thought about the ways to do this.  

Basically you'd need to write your own initrd/initramfs that makes sure 
both 
the real / and /etc are mounted before handing your layout over to your 
distro's init system -- I don't know a single disto that has support 
for /etc 
being separate, it's needed incredibly early in the boot process -- in 
particular /etc/fstab needs to be available so the init scripts and mount 
your other filesystems.

An alternative that *might* work is having a bare-bones /etc 
(including /etc/fstab) as part of /, but keep most of your configuration on 
a 
separate /etc.  However, this would probably need to be tuned to the 
specific 
distro since they may expect different files to be available before 
mounting 
the filesystems in /etc/fstab.  Of course, there are other problems with 
this, including synchronizing configuration between the bare-bones /etc and 
the full /etc.

Both techniques could be extended to /bin, /sbin, and/or /lib in lieu of or 
in 
addition to /etc.  I don't recommend either, though.

-- 
Boyd Stephen Smith Jr.                     ,= ,-_-. =. 
bss03@volumehost.net                      ((_/)o o(\_))
ICQ: 514984 YM/AIM: DaTwinkDaddy           `-'(. .)`-' 
http://iguanasuicide.org/                      \_/     

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