installing multuple distributions

installing multuple distributions

[Pol]

<posted & mailed>

I would like to test several distributions (say
kubuntu,mandriva,suse,arklinux) without changing my working place, when
switching from one to the other. 
So / /boot /usr /var of each distribution should be on the same partition,
while the /home partition should be shared among all.
Do you think that share /home would give rise to any inconsistencies?

Probably i should make sure that /etc/passwd and /etc/groups are the same in
all distributions.
Do you think it would work?

Thank you
Pol

 

Re: installing multuple distributions

[Adam T. Bowen]

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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. 
> So / /boot /usr /var of each distribution should be on the same partition,
> 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 same 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


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Re: installing multuple distributions

[Yuri Csapo]

Pol,

Yes, it would certainly work. The important files to look at are, as you 
said, /etc/passwd and /etc/group; but also /etc/shadow. I don't think 
it's a good idea to make them the same because different distros will 
have different ways of doing things and different required 
administrative users and groups; things like lp, admin, etc. All you 
need to do is make sure that your own user entry (and those of other 
users of the system) has the same UID and belongs to the same primary 
group, which should have the same GID. Also, I'd make the passwords the 
same across the distros just to keep sane... Good luck!

Yuri

Pol wrote:
> <posted & mailed>
> 
> I would like to test several distributions (say
> kubuntu,mandriva,suse,arklinux) without changing my working place, when
> switching from one to the other. 
> So / /boot /usr /var of each distribution should be on the same partition,
> while the /home partition should be shared among all.
> Do you think that share /home would give rise to any inconsistencies?
> 
> Probably i should make sure that /etc/passwd and /etc/groups are the same in
> all distributions.
> Do you think it would work?
> 
> Thank you
> Pol
> 
>  
> 
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-- 
Yuri Csapo
Academic Computing & Networking
Colorado School of Mines
CT-256
Phone:  (303) 273-3503
Fax:      (303) 273-3475
Email:   ycsapo@mines.edu

Please use the following link to open a service request:
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===========================================
With a PC, I always felt limited
by the software available.
On Unix, I am limited only by my knowledge.
--Peter J. Schoenster

[--tech--]Re: installing multuple distributions

[Pol]

<posted & mailed>

Yuri Csapo wrote:

> Pol,
> 
> Yes, it would certainly work. The important files to look at are, as you
> said, /etc/passwd and /etc/group; but also /etc/shadow. I don't think
> it's a good idea to make them the same because different distros will
> have different ways of doing things and different required
> administrative users and groups; things like lp, admin, etc. All you
> need to do is make sure that your own user entry (and those of other
> users of the system) has the same UID and belongs to the same primary
> group, which should have the same GID. Also, I'd make the passwords the
> same across the distros just to keep sane... Good luck!

yes, i realise /etc/passwd and /etc/group might contain
distribution-specific details
thank you

--P

Re: installing multuple distributions

[Pol]

Adam T. Bowen wrote:

> 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).

I am not a professional. Is there an easy way to try ldap?
thank you
--P

Re: installing multuple distributions

[urgrue]

Pol wrote:
> Adam T. Bowen wrote:
> 
>> 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).
> 
> I am not a professional. Is there an easy way to try ldap?
> thank you
> --P

LDAP is, despite the name (Lighweight Directory Access Protocol) not
very "lightweight". Unless you already have active directory (which is
basically just ldap), I would consider something a bit simpler like
NIS+. NIS+ is pretty antiquated but if all you want is to share
passwd/group/etc information, it might be an option to consider.
There are other options too, such as Hesiod, but i havent them.

Re: [--tech--]Re: installing multuple distributions

[Mateusz Marzantowicz]

On Mon, 2009-02-09 at 09:46 +0100, Pol wrote:
> <posted & mailed>
> 
> Yuri Csapo wrote:
> 
> > Pol,
> > 
> > Yes, it would certainly work. The important files to look at are, as you
> > said, /etc/passwd and /etc/group; but also /etc/shadow. I don't think
> > it's a good idea to make them the same because different distros will
> > have different ways of doing things and different required
> > administrative users and groups; things like lp, admin, etc. All you
> > need to do is make sure that your own user entry (and those of other
> > users of the system) has the same UID and belongs to the same primary
> > group, which should have the same GID. Also, I'd make the passwords the
> > same across the distros just to keep sane... Good luck!
> 
> yes, i realise /etc/passwd and /etc/group might contain
> distribution-specific details
> thank you

... as well as other files in /etc directory. I think it'd be good idea
to have /etc unshared between your Linux distros.

Things that could possibly be problematic when sharing /etc are:
- passwd and group (as mentioned)
- boot scripts in rcN.d and init.d
- PAM configuration (if any is present, but most of Linux distros uses
it)
- other common system config (you'll need to merge all common files
which may be different in various Linux distros)


--
Mateusz Marzantowicz

Re: installing multuple distributions

[Glynn Clements]

Pol wrote:

> Probably i should make sure that /etc/passwd and /etc/groups are the same in
> all distributions.
> Do you think it would work?

Your user accounts should have the same UID/GID if you are planning on
using a common /home partition.

However, you shoudn't modify the system UIDs/GIDs. Bear in mind that
the filesystem stores numeric UID/GID, not user/group names. If you
change the UIDs/GIDs in the passwd and group files, files and
directories will have the wrong owner. Some configuration files may
also use numeric UIDs/GIDs.

-- 
Glynn Clements <glynn@gclements.plus.com>