On Fri, 2006-11-10 at 19:05 -0800, Christoph Maier wrote:
> Now that I have successfully installed a triple-boot system (Windows
> XP, ubuntu 6.10 [default], and Fedora Core 6), I'm trying to share
> files (e.g., the ~/.evolution mail archives) between the Linux
> distributions on the commonly mounted /data volume.
> 
> The gotcha is that ubuntu and Fedora assigned different UID to me,
> (1000 and 500, respectively).

Whenever I do a new install, if I'm not sure of the UIDs (and I need to
set them while making new accounts for some reason) I will make the new
accounts after the system install. That way I can look them up on the
other system(s) and make them all correct from the get-go.

> See http://www.kernel-panic.org/Members/cmaier/hamburger-lugnut-log/
> for my latest antics.
> Is it possible (and not too painful to bother) to change the UID of an
> existing user?

I've found the easiest way to change UIDs/GIDs is to use Webmin
(http://www.webmin.com/). It can change the IDs of all dirs, etc. that
belong to the user/group to match the new user/group.

Also, using LDAP alleviates the problem of multiple IDs for the same
user on multiple boxes. Configuring LDAP may not be for the faint of
heart though.


> Messing with UIDs looks like one of the things that don't look _too_
> hard, but may be a minefield of side effects...

Yes, if you change the ID of a user/group that has many dirs. and/or
apps here and there it can really wreak havoc (especially with groups).

PGA
-- 
Paul G. Allen BSIT/SE
Owner/Sr. Engineer
Random Logic Consulting
www.randomlogic.com

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