[vox-tech] Running Multiple Distros
I have two questions about running more than one Linux distribution on a single machine. #1: Does the existence of a separate partition for /home mean that it is not practical to run more than one Linux distribution on a machine? I have SuSE on one partition, and I have space allocated for another distro. But my home directory is on still another partition. When certain programs are run they put hidden files and directories in /home. For example .kde is a directory containing many subdirectories and some files. If I install Debian in my spare partition, will the programs in Debian insert hidden configuration files that will break SuSE's connection to it's configuration files in /home. Will Debian's .kde break SuSE's connection with the .kde that KDE installed when it was originally started in SuSE? #2 Suppose the answer to #1 is that the second distro will break the first distro's connection to it's configuration files in /home. Will there still be a problem if I install the same version of SuSE in the spare partition? Suppose, for example, that I want a duplicate version of SuSE in which to experiment with configuring files and compiling programs so that if I blow the system, I can still run the original SuSE system. Thank you. Bob ___ vox-tech mailing list vox-tech@lists.lugod.org http://lists.lugod.org/mailman/listinfo/vox-tech
Re: [vox-tech] Running Multiple Distros
On Thu 30 Dec 04, 11:11 AM, Robert G. Scofield [EMAIL PROTECTED] said: I have two questions about running more than one Linux distribution on a single machine. #1: Does the existence of a separate partition for /home mean that it is not practical to run more than one Linux distribution on a machine? You prolly don't want to do this for exactly you suspect. Different programs will have different versions on the different distros. Different versions, different dotfiles. It's certainly not going to be a good scene. If you run two distros, you probably want different home directories. If you wanted to test out a distro, there's no crime in making a single partition system. It's definitely not what you want to use for your for reals system, but for the purposes of taking an OS out on a test drive, it's perfectly reasonable to do. #2 Suppose the answer to #1 is that the second distro will break the first distro's connection to it's configuration files in /home. Will there still be a problem if I install the same version of SuSE in the spare partition? Ummm... not really sure. Off the top of my head, I'd say it's OK. This is probably more than you want to do, but one trick that I've used in the past is to put my home directory files (but not dotfiles) into cvs. Whenever I'm at someone's house, I can securely pull anything from my home directory via CVS. If you've learned CVS from somewhere, it might not be a bad option to share your personal files between two operating systems. I understand there's something called LDAP which can do this too, but I don't know anything about LDAP. Pete -- The mathematics of physics has become ever more abstract, rather than more complicated. The mind of God appears to be abstract but not complicated. He also appears to like group theory. -- Tony Zee's Fearful Symmetry GPG Fingerprint: B9F1 6CF3 47C4 7CD8 D33E 70A9 A3B9 1945 67EA 951D ___ vox-tech mailing list vox-tech@lists.lugod.org http://lists.lugod.org/mailman/listinfo/vox-tech
Re: [vox-tech] Running Multiple Distros
On Thursday 30 December 2004 11:21 am, Peter Jay Salzman wrote: On Thu 30 Dec 04, 11:11 AM, Robert G. Scofield [EMAIL PROTECTED] said: I have two questions about running more than one Linux distribution on a single machine. #1: Does the existence of a separate partition for /home mean that it is not practical to run more than one Linux distribution on a machine? You prolly don't want to do this for exactly you suspect. Different programs will have different versions on the different distros. Different versions, different dotfiles. It's certainly not going to be a good scene. If you run two distros, you probably want different home directories. Hmm. The purpose of a home directory is to hold personal stuff, for example your mail, documents, browser bookmarks, contacts, development projects, VIM preferences, desktop preferences, etc. In theory each application should have its own unique dot- file, and be able to deal with compatibility issues across versions. In practice some apps might not handle version differences gracefully; for example I've had to blow away ~/.kde a couple of times in the past after upgrading KDE. So if what you want to do is work with different distribu- tions in the course of doing your normal tasks, then it should be OK to share the home directory - but after making a backup just in case! If you wanted to test out a distro, there's no crime in making a single partition system. It's definitely not what you want to use for your for reals system, but for the purposes of taking an OS out on a test drive, it's perfectly reasonable to do. For testing or rescue purposes, absolutely. #2 Suppose the answer to #1 is that the second distro will break the first distro's connection to it's configuration files in /home. Will there still be a problem if I install the same version of SuSE in the spare partition? Ummm... not really sure. Off the top of my head, I'd say it's OK. No problem, I do this kind of thing all the time. -- Rod ___ vox-tech mailing list vox-tech@lists.lugod.org http://lists.lugod.org/mailman/listinfo/vox-tech
Re: [vox-tech] Running Multiple Distros
Quoting Rod Roark ([EMAIL PROTECTED]): In theory each application should have its own unique dot- file, and be able to deal with compatibility issues across versions. In practice some apps might not handle version differences gracefully; for example I've had to blow away ~/.kde a couple of times in the past after upgrading KDE. It should be added that, even when newer versions of the software can deal gracefully with older versions' dotfiles, the reverse is very often _not_ the case -- because the developers anticipated people upgrading, but _not_ their going backwards. Therefore, with two distros sharing (e.g.) ~/.kde directories and having different k-app versions, the distro with older k-apps might get severe indigestion from your shared ~/.kde trees, even if the other doesn't. ___ vox-tech mailing list vox-tech@lists.lugod.org http://lists.lugod.org/mailman/listinfo/vox-tech
Re: [vox-tech] Running Multiple Distros
On Thu 30 Dec 04, 12:22 PM, Rick Moen [EMAIL PROTECTED] said: Quoting Robert G. Scofield ([EMAIL PROTECTED]): Is there anyway to install a new distro on /dev/hdb3 and have it use a /home on /dev/hdb3? You betcha. Just assign the new distro's / (root directory) mountpoint to /dev/hdb3, and just avoid assigning mountpoint home to /dev/hdb7. Then, /home will live within /dev/hdb3 by default, rather than being on a separate filesystem. Exacly. I suspect this is the sort of thing that may be more difficult to explain in advance than it is to actually do. The solution is as simple as commenting out one line in /etc/fstab. If you have any doubts, go ahead and install SuSE on your blank partition. Try to get SuSE to mount /home on /dev/hdb3. If you can't figure it out, and SuSE *insists* on mounting /dev/hdb(whatever) as /home, no worries. Post back, and the instructions on fixing it the way you want will be very easy. Essentially, /etc/fstab is a very important file. You ask how can I have two home partitions on a single computer. The answer is that /etc/fstab tells the operating system about partitions. Anything that /etc/fstab doesn't tell the OS, the OS doesn't know about. If you make no reference to home on /dev/hdb7 in /etc/fstab for the new OS, the new OS won't even know it exists. BTW, if you wanted to try Debian, Debian lets you do whatever you want, transparently and easily. The downside is that the Debian installer (the one that comes with Debian) can be a little disconcerting if you're new to all this aych-dee-bee stuff. When I first saw the Sarge installer, those little icons made me pause for a second. ;) Pete -- The mathematics of physics has become ever more abstract, rather than more complicated. The mind of God appears to be abstract but not complicated. He also appears to like group theory. -- Tony Zee's Fearful Symmetry GPG Fingerprint: B9F1 6CF3 47C4 7CD8 D33E 70A9 A3B9 1945 67EA 951D ___ vox-tech mailing list vox-tech@lists.lugod.org http://lists.lugod.org/mailman/listinfo/vox-tech
Re: [vox-tech] Running Multiple Distros
On Thursday 30 December 2004 12:13, Rod Roark wrote: It seems like any new distro put into /dev/hdb3 will automatically use /dev/hdb7 (which SuSE 9.2 is using), right? Is there anyway to install a new distro on /dev/hdb3 and have it use a /home on /dev/hdb3? I would expect that to be the default. If the new distro does somehow figure out that you were using hdb7 for /home and decides to make that the default, it should at least give you a chance to override it. Right, and I just discovered the truth of what you're saying. You put SuSE9.2 in my spare partition when you built this Sunset Systems machine. (Though it's not part of the GRUB menu at present and so doesn't boot.) So I just cd'd over to that partition and noticed that /home was empty. But I'm glad I asked this question anyway because of the information I got in the responses. I will use that information in my future experiments. Thanks again Pete, Rod and Rick. Bob ___ vox-tech mailing list vox-tech@lists.lugod.org http://lists.lugod.org/mailman/listinfo/vox-tech
Re: [vox-tech] Running Multiple Distros
On Thu, Dec 30, 2004 at 11:11:47AM -0800, Robert G. Scofield wrote: I have two questions about running more than one Linux distribution on a single machine. #1: Does the existence of a separate partition for /home mean that it is not practical to run more than one Linux distribution on a machine? I have SuSE on one partition, and I have space allocated for another distro. But my home directory is on still another partition. When certain programs are run they put hidden files and directories in /home. For example .kde is a directory containing many subdirectories and some files. If I install Debian in my spare partition, will the programs in Debian insert hidden configuration files that will break SuSE's connection to it's configuration files in /home. Will Debian's .kde break SuSE's connection with the .kde that KDE installed when it was originally started in SuSE? See an answer I wrote to this question previously at http://lugod.org/mailinglists/archives/vox-tech/2004-07/msg00264.html #2 Suppose the answer to #1 is that the second distro will break the first distro's connection to it's configuration files in /home. Will there still be a problem if I install the same version of SuSE in the spare partition? Suppose, for example, that I want a duplicate version of SuSE in which to experiment with configuring files and compiling programs so that if I blow the system, I can still run the original SuSE system. -- I usually have a GPG digital signature included as an attachment. See http://www.gnupg.org/ for info about these digital signatures. signature.asc Description: Digital signature ___ vox-tech mailing list vox-tech@lists.lugod.org http://lists.lugod.org/mailman/listinfo/vox-tech
