From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: "Adam T. Bowen" Subject: Re: installing multuple distributions Date: Fri, 06 Feb 2009 11:00:36 +0000 Message-ID: <498C1854.9090808@agitate.org.uk> References: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/signed; micalg=pgp-sha1; protocol="application/pgp-signature"; boundary="------------enig8458BAF29262BC84DDD4BE9F" Return-path: DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=gmail.com; s=gamma; h=domainkey-signature:received:received:sender:message-id:date:from :user-agent:mime-version:to:subject:references:in-reply-to :x-enigmail-version:x-stationery:content-type; bh=EINNFY2qWxqsVwziY9to9sTPz2eTEu2+Ss3hxPccYbs=; b=uUqM6xzAFg5FQPRSf2lOWIcHV7JvyLnWlAe0s1eSeIJCHtuJrDCNxvNVblPewbPmB6 l1mQMW3Cfmn7jkYumbxcAj0GIjpzCovykQvSOyIA6tfA1NJvbjmXfxP2DNT1zQKGS3BS FNH1YeoF7MXsVY0oaU+hBBe3nxcaRF2n6xSnM= In-Reply-To: Sender: linux-admin-owner@vger.kernel.org List-ID: To: linux-admin@vger.kernel.org This is an OpenPGP/MIME signed message (RFC 2440 and 3156) --------------enig8458BAF29262BC84DDD4BE9F Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Hi, Pol wrote: > I would like to test several distributions (say > kubuntu,mandriva,suse,arklinux) without changing my working place, when= > switching from one to the other.=20 > So / /boot /usr /var of each distribution should be on the same partiti= on, > while the /home partition should be shared among all. > Do you think that share /home would give rise to any inconsistencies? No, it should be fine. The only thing to look out for is the use of dot files in your home directory for configuration of different version of applications on the different distros. If, for instance, you are trying out gnome, and the distros have different versions of the various components that make up gnome, then you might find things "acting weirdly". I remember having a nightmare with the .gconf configuration files between different versions. If things start acting up, deleting these config directories might sort things out. > Probably i should make sure that /etc/passwd and /etc/groups are the sa= me in > all distributions. > Do you think it would work? Be careful if you intend to merge the different passwd and group files because different distros may use different default IDs for system accounts. A fun, but maybe slightly complicated way of doing this, would be to store your user accounts in LDAP and have the LDAP data files on a shared partition (/home would do). Make sure all the system users (UID < 100) are stored in each distribution's local /etc/passwd file and set up your nsswitch.conf so that it reads files and then ldap. Of course if you are only going to have one user account, then this is *way* over the top (but it would certainly teach you a lot about LDAP based authentication). Hope you enjoy yourself! Adam --------------enig8458BAF29262BC84DDD4BE9F Content-Type: application/pgp-signature; name="signature.asc" Content-Description: OpenPGP digital signature Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="signature.asc" -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.7 (GNU/Linux) Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla - http://enigmail.mozdev.org iD8DBQFJjBhZfNJVASeK9ugRAm//AJ93EKW9S1gtA5oxa2vZ0wq+o/D0fwCghszn EMigxsd3h9Y9hp5w3Ac3gQw= =Hxw2 -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- --------------enig8458BAF29262BC84DDD4BE9F--