Re: ROOT_HOME: /home/root

[Richard Purdie <richard.purdie@linuxfoundation.org>]

On Wed, 2014-01-29 at 12:59 +0000, Laszlo Papp wrote:
> On Wed, Jan 29, 2014 at 12:52 PM, Richard Purdie
> <richard.purdie@linuxfoundation.org> wrote:
> > On Wed, 2014-01-29 at 12:32 +0000, Laszlo Papp wrote:

> > By having a default of /home/root/ we can catch software that has issues
> > with relocation of that.
> 
> I am not sure what you mean. Could you please elaborate?

As you mention, "/root" is more standard. It therefore becomes hard to
spot software that assumes this rather than using the directory we
configure it to if the default is also /root.

By having a slightly more unusual default choice, we quickly find the
software that doesn't adapt to our variable.

> > Having the writeable user data in one directory like this is useful
> for several classes of embedded style devices.
> 
> Could you please provide any examples?

One that springs to mind is the Sharp Zaurus series of PDAs have
separate /home partitions in flash. You can reflash a new rootfs without
overwriting the user config data.

> > So to be honest I don't see a pressing reason to change this.
> 
> I do, because the earlier it is done, the fewer users that may have
> incompatible changes. As the time goes ahead, more and more users will
> stick to it as "default". I believe this means those who do not care
> about proper Unix separation.

Its been like this for years and seems to work perfectly fine for
people. You can configure it just fine. As I said previously, I see no
pressing reason to change it.

Cheers,

Richard