Can two Distros share a Home?

October 3, 2006 7:25 PM

Linux Filter: Is it copasetic to use the same home folder on two different installs of Linux?

If so, are there any OTHER folders that I can do this with? Does it only work if the lineage is the same (both Debian based for example), or can I combine two different ones (a Deb and a Gentoo)? I'm just trying to experiment and I want the most effeciant way to do so. Also, can I install another version of Linux from inside Linux (my CD ROM doesn't work so well)?

Thanks!

posted by TrueVox to computers & internet (15 comments total)

If you can boot from a floppy disk, or a USB device, many linux distributions can then be installed over a network connection.
posted by odinsdream at 7:28 PM on October 3, 2006

Really? Ok, so that takes care of one question. Thanks for the quick reply, OdinsDream!
posted by TrueVox at 7:31 PM on October 3, 2006

When you do the partitioning for the install, create three or four partitions (one for each distribution, one for /home, and one for swap space, if you use it). You should be able to set up each one so that it mounts /home from the separate partition (I've mostly dealt with Slackware's installer, so I can't tell you how do it in each case). If you can't find any such option during the installation, you can set it up afterward by making changes to the /etc/fstab files on each system.

One thing you'll want to watch out for is that whatever username you use is the same between both systems, and that both usernames have the same uid and gid (/etc/password and /etc/groups), or else you might have strange permissions issues, since the UID and GID are what's used internally for determining file/directory ownership and such. For distros from the same lineage, they'll probably use the same convention; you can manually change the UID in /etc/passwd, but it's best to get this done before you start creating files and have to chown them.

You could probably get away with using a shared /tmp directory, since nothing is (supposed to be) permanently stored there. You might be able to share other directories, depending on how closely related the distributions are, but it seems like it would be a pain to do, because you'd need separate partitions for each, which means you need to have a good idea of how much space each thing needs, or else you're going to run out or have it be wasted.
posted by Godbert at 7:36 PM on October 3, 2006

But, if you're doing Gentoo, you can also install it from inside another Linux system.
posted by odinsdream at 7:36 PM on October 3, 2006

So, (assuming I can figure it out, which after an adventure in FSTab land I had earler today thanks to Partition Magic (bleck!) I think I may be able to) I can do it? There won't be any setting conflicts (I'll be using different Desktop Enviroments (GNOME for one, Enlightenment for another and MAYBE a third with KDE), or any nonsense like that? GREAT!
posted by TrueVox at 7:46 PM on October 3, 2006

Using NFS, I use the same home directory for many Linux, BSD and Solaris boxes without much problem. And yes, we do have a system for syncing UIDS/GIDS on all the boxes. One thing though is that I only have a desktop on one of those machines (my Fedora desktop) so the .gnome stuff is only used on that box. But my bash, vim, etc configuration files are used on all the systems.

I would worry about running two different versions of Gnome or KDE out of the same home directory as I doubt that those projects are very careful about keeping the configuration files compatible and you might end up corrupting something.
posted by octothorpe at 7:50 PM on October 3, 2006

To clarify, running Gnome on one and KDE on another should be fine. But running Gnome 2.14 on one and 2.16 on another using the same config file is probably asking for trouble. The same for different versions of KDE.

P.S. Copasetic is a great word.
posted by octothorpe at 7:54 PM on October 3, 2006

But running just one version of each should be OK, right? Is that correct? And what's NFS (sorry, I'm a bit of a noob)? Network File System?
posted by TrueVox at 7:55 PM on October 3, 2006

Ok, disregard my last post. And what about gnome 2.14 on one and on the other? Do you think that would work ok?
posted by TrueVox at 7:56 PM on October 3, 2006

Sorry, yes NFS = "Network File System". It means that my home directory lives on a server in our lab and my desktop mounts it remotely. And yea, two different gnome installs of the same version running out of the same home directory should be fine. Maybe two different versions of Gnome would work too but I'd kind of doubt it.
posted by octothorpe at 8:06 PM on October 3, 2006

What you might want to do is have a separate home directory on each system, and then a single partition you mount *under* your home directory on all of them. That keeps your configuration files per-distro, but lets you get at all your user files under that.
posted by mendel at 8:13 PM on October 3, 2006

Oh! Clever! Can it be my Documents folder, or does that store specific configureation information too?
posted by TrueVox at 8:19 PM on October 3, 2006

Nothing in any Gnu/Linux distro uses /home/Documents for anything system-defined, AFAIK; should be perfectly safe to share across distros.
posted by flabdablet at 3:14 AM on October 4, 2006

What they said. Sharing your dotfiles when you could be using different versions of things = asking for trouble. Having a common directory for storage = fine. You could use /home/truevox/Documents; I blow off the Filesystem Hierarchy Standard altogether and use the top-level '/data'.
posted by Zed_Lopez at 9:39 AM on October 4, 2006

Oh, and if you search on 'debootstrap', you'll find it's a cool tool for installing Debian derivatives. And look at 'qemu' and the Free OS Zoo for ways to play with distros without having to install them on a real machine.

And you can get a spiffy DVD-RW drive for under $40, shipped -- or you can look for a free computer on your local Craigslist and salvage its CD drive. You might look into just replacing your flaky one.
posted by Zed_Lopez at 9:47 AM on October 4, 2006