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Relocating many homes in subfolders of a dedicated internal HDD

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  Relocating many homes in subfolders of a dedicated internal HDD Soviet_Mario <SovietMario@CCCP.MIR> - 2019-06-13 20:47 +0200
    Re: Relocating many homes in subfolders of a dedicated internal HDD "David W. Hodgins" <dwhodgins@nomail.afraid.org> - 2019-06-13 17:35 -0400
      Re: Relocating many homes in subfolders of a dedicated internal HDD Soviet_Mario <SovietMario@CCCP.MIR> - 2019-06-14 00:01 +0200
        Re: Relocating many homes in subfolders of a dedicated internal HDD "David W. Hodgins" <dwhodgins@nomail.afraid.org> - 2019-06-13 19:28 -0400
          Re: Relocating many homes in subfolders of a dedicated internal HDD Bit Twister <BitTwister@mouse-potato.com> - 2019-06-13 19:23 -0500
        Re: Relocating many homes in subfolders of a dedicated internal HDD "Carlos E.R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> - 2019-06-14 10:29 +0200
      Re: Relocating many homes in subfolders of a dedicated internal HDD marrgol <marrgol@address.invalid> - 2019-06-14 02:13 +0200
        Re: Relocating many homes in subfolders of a dedicated internal HDD "David W. Hodgins" <dwhodgins@nomail.afraid.org> - 2019-06-13 23:45 -0400
          Re: Relocating many homes in subfolders of a dedicated internal HDD Paul <nospam@needed.invalid> - 2019-06-14 07:34 -0400
            Re: Relocating many homes in subfolders of a dedicated internal HDD "David W. Hodgins" <dwhodgins@nomail.afraid.org> - 2019-06-14 09:59 -0400
              Re: Relocating many homes in subfolders of a dedicated internal HDD "Carlos E.R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> - 2019-06-15 13:08 +0200
                Re: Relocating many homes in subfolders of a dedicated internal HDD Paul <nospam@needed.invalid> - 2019-06-15 11:58 -0400
                  Re: Relocating many homes in subfolders of a dedicated internal HDD "Carlos E.R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> - 2019-06-15 23:10 +0200
    Re: Relocating many homes in subfolders of a dedicated internal HDD Bit Twister <BitTwister@mouse-potato.com> - 2019-06-13 18:49 -0500
    Re: Relocating many homes in subfolders of a dedicated internal HDD "J.O. Aho" <user@example.net> - 2019-06-14 07:05 +0200
      Re: Relocating many homes in subfolders of a dedicated internal HDD "David W. Hodgins" <dwhodgins@nomail.afraid.org> - 2019-06-14 04:17 -0400
        Re: Relocating many homes in subfolders of a dedicated internal HDD Soviet_Mario <SovietMario@CCCP.MIR> - 2019-06-14 17:41 +0200
          Re: Relocating many homes in subfolders of a dedicated internal HDD William Unruh <unruh@invalid.ca> - 2019-06-14 15:58 +0000
          Re: Relocating many homes in subfolders of a dedicated internal HDD "J.O. Aho" <user@example.net> - 2019-06-14 18:04 +0200
        Re: Relocating many homes in subfolders of a dedicated internal HDD "J.O. Aho" <user@example.net> - 2019-06-14 17:58 +0200
          Re: Relocating many homes in subfolders of a dedicated internal HDD Aragorn <thorongil@telenet.be> - 2019-06-14 18:36 +0200
            Re: Relocating many homes in subfolders of a dedicated internal HDD Bit Twister <BitTwister@mouse-potato.com> - 2019-06-14 12:01 -0500
            Re: Relocating many homes in subfolders of a dedicated internal HDD "J.O. Aho" <user@example.net> - 2019-06-14 19:18 +0200
              Re: Relocating many homes in subfolders of a dedicated internal HDD Aragorn <thorongil@telenet.be> - 2019-06-14 20:11 +0200
                Re: Relocating many homes in subfolders of a dedicated internal HDD "J.O. Aho" <user@example.net> - 2019-06-14 21:44 +0200
                Re: Relocating many homes in subfolders of a dedicated internal HDD Soviet_Mario <SovietMario@CCCP.MIR> - 2019-06-18 12:50 +0200
                  Re: Relocating many homes in subfolders of a dedicated internal HDD "J.O. Aho" <user@example.net> - 2019-06-18 21:50 +0200
                    Re: Relocating many homes in subfolders of a dedicated internal HDD Aragorn <thorongil@telenet.be> - 2019-06-19 13:10 +0200
                      Re: Relocating many homes in subfolders of a dedicated internal HDD "J.O. Aho" <user@example.net> - 2019-06-19 21:57 +0200
            Re: Relocating many homes in subfolders of a dedicated internal HDD "J.O. Aho" <user@example.net> - 2019-06-14 19:22 +0200
              Re: Relocating many homes in subfolders of a dedicated internal HDD Aragorn <thorongil@telenet.be> - 2019-06-14 20:02 +0200
      Re: Relocating many homes in subfolders of a dedicated internal HDD Soviet_Mario <SovietMario@CCCP.MIR> - 2019-06-14 17:36 +0200
        Re: Relocating many homes in subfolders of a dedicated internal HDD Bit Twister <BitTwister@mouse-potato.com> - 2019-06-14 10:50 -0500
        Re: Relocating many homes in subfolders of a dedicated internal HDD William Unruh <unruh@invalid.ca> - 2019-06-14 15:55 +0000
          Re: Relocating many homes in subfolders of a dedicated internal HDD Soviet_Mario <SovietMario@CCCP.MIR> - 2019-06-14 22:29 +0200
            Re: Relocating many homes in subfolders of a dedicated internal HDD William Unruh <unruh@invalid.ca> - 2019-06-14 20:52 +0000
              Re: Relocating many homes in subfolders of a dedicated internal HDD Soviet_Mario <SovietMario@CCCP.MIR> - 2019-06-15 02:07 +0200
                Re: Relocating many homes in subfolders of a dedicated internal HDD William Unruh <unruh@invalid.ca> - 2019-06-15 01:30 +0000
            Re: Relocating many homes in subfolders of a dedicated internal HDD Aragorn <thorongil@telenet.be> - 2019-06-15 08:59 +0200
              Re: Relocating many homes in subfolders of a dedicated internal HDD Soviet_Mario <SovietMario@CCCP.MIR> - 2019-06-17 19:43 +0200
    Re: Relocating many homes in subfolders of a dedicated internal HDD Pascal Hambourg <pascal@plouf.fr.eu.org> - 2019-06-15 19:47 +0200
      Re: Relocating many homes in subfolders of a dedicated internal HDD Soviet_Mario <SovietMario@CCCP.MIR> - 2019-06-17 02:05 +0200
        Re: Relocating many homes in subfolders of a dedicated internal HDD Bit Twister <BitTwister@mouse-potato.com> - 2019-06-16 20:23 -0500
        Re: Relocating many homes in subfolders of a dedicated internal HDD Pascal Hambourg <pascal@plouf.fr.eu.org> - 2019-06-18 13:52 +0200
          Re: Relocating many homes in subfolders of a dedicated internal HDD Soviet_Mario <SovietMario@CCCP.MIR> - 2019-06-18 18:36 +0200
            Re: Relocating many homes in subfolders of a dedicated internal HDD Bit Twister <BitTwister@mouse-potato.com> - 2019-06-18 12:04 -0500
            Re: Relocating many homes in subfolders of a dedicated internal HDD William Unruh <unruh@invalid.ca> - 2019-06-18 21:37 +0000
            Re: Relocating many homes in subfolders of a dedicated internal HDD Pascal Hambourg <pascal@plouf.fr.eu.org> - 2019-06-20 23:31 +0200
              Re: Relocating many homes in subfolders of a dedicated internal HDD "J.O. Aho" <user@example.net> - 2019-06-21 10:25 +0200

Page 3 of 3 — ← Prev page 1 2 [3]

#56889

Le 13/06/2019 à 20:47, Soviet_Mario a écrit :
> 
> scenario : install 2 more OS to test on dedicated separate disks (each 
> in just one boot+root partition and one for swap_#1).
(...)
> Meanwhile, as I have a big NEW and certified hdd (non ssd, a WD-red 2 
> TB), I'd also be willing to move the actual data of every HOME of any  
> distro, each in a separate subtree of "\homes" shared folder. I say 
> shared as the device has to be mounted, but each distro will write in 
> its own branch by default, letting me decide if not.
> 
> So this I think is not a home sharing, just DATA sharing : just home 
> relocation in a shared drive.

May I ask why you want to do this ?
Why don't you simply want to create separate filesystems for each OS /home ?

> I have thought of SYMLINKING.
> 
> So the question : is it there a question to associate every home/user of 
> one distro with the specific corresponding subfolder on another drive ?
> 
> Is it possible ? safe ? What risks I should be aware of before trying ?

Possible ? yes. Safe ? probably not as safe as using per-OS /home.

Symlinks can be used as part of one solution. For example on OS "foo" 
after installing it :
- Mount the big drive on, say, /data (and update fstab accordingly)
- move /home to /data/foo
- create a symlink /home pointing to /data/foo

Do the same on each other OS.

This solution has a disadvantage : all OSes can see all home directories 
of all other OSes. Some users on different OSes will probably have the 
same numerical User ID (many distributions use UID=1000 for the first 
user). A user in any OS can access the home directory of any other user 
which has the same UID in any other OS.

Other valuable solutions have been suggested :
- bind mounts
- Btrfs subvolumes

Most distributions will not allow to set up bind mounts during the 
installation. Not sure about Btrfs subvolumes. So you probably will have 
to set this up after the installation.

I mention two other solutions for completeness :

1) Change the default path where home directories are created. If using 
adduser to create users, edit DHOME in /etc/adduser.conf. If using 
useradd, edit HOME in /etc/default/useradd.
Of course if a first user is created during the installation, its home 
directory will not be created in the alternate path. You can move its 
home directory with usermod -d -m, or just delete this user.

2) Use LVM on the big drive and create a logical volume for each OS home 
directory. This way they are much more isolated than with other 
solutions. If you are concerned about disk space allocation, note that 
you can easily resize logical volume, much more easily than partitions.

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#56932

Il 15/06/19 19:47, Pascal Hambourg ha scritto:
> Le 13/06/2019 à 20:47, Soviet_Mario a écrit :
>>
>> scenario : install 2 more OS to test on dedicated separate 
>> disks (each in just one boot+root partition and one for 
>> swap_#1).
> (...)
>> Meanwhile, as I have a big NEW and certified hdd (non ssd, 
>> a WD-red 2 TB), I'd also be willing to move the actual 
>> data of every HOME of any distro, each in a separate 
>> subtree of "\homes" shared folder. I say shared as the 
>> device has to be mounted, but each distro will write in 
>> its own branch by default, letting me decide if not.
>>
>> So this I think is not a home sharing, just DATA sharing : 
>> just home relocation in a shared drive.
> 
> May I ask why you want to do this ?
> Why don't you simply want to create separate filesystems for 
> each OS /home ?

for record : I'm reading this AFTER my reply in the other 
thread. So, well, I did not actually forget or paid little 
attention : I hadn't read it already when I opened the other 
thread.

> 
>> I have thought of SYMLINKING.
>>
>> So the question : is it there a question to associate 
>> every home/user of one distro with the specific 
>> corresponding subfolder on another drive ?
>>
>> Is it possible ? safe ? What risks I should be aware of 
>> before trying ?
> 
> Possible ? yes. Safe ? probably not as safe as using per-OS 
> /home.
> 
> Symlinks can be used as part of one solution. For example on 
> OS "foo" after installing it :
> - Mount the big drive on, say, /data (and update fstab 
> accordingly)
> - move /home to /data/foo
> - create a symlink /home pointing to /data/foo

where do I have to put this symlink ? Directly in /
or in /home ?

For me it would be fine to move every user at the same time

> 
> Do the same on each other OS.
> 
> This solution has a disadvantage : all OSes can see all home 
> directories of all other OSes. Some users on different OSes 
> will probably have the same numerical User ID (many 
> distributions use UID=1000 for the first user). A user in 
> any OS can access the home directory of any other user which 
> has the same UID in any other OS.

this would be highly appreciated as my need is right to 
SHARE all data among distros. The various users are just 
myself, nobody else.
I would have had to take care to sync the UID and GID to the 
same values manually anyway (if I got what Carlos suggested).
The only different among the users is they must have their 
config files, nothing else

> 
> Other valuable solutions have been suggested :
> - bind mounts
> - Btrfs subvolumes
> 
> Most distributions will not allow to set up bind mounts 
> during the installation. 

the moment is not essential. The best solution is the 
simplest in this case.

> Not sure about Btrfs subvolumes. So 
> you probably will have to set this up after the installation.
> 
> I mention two other solutions for completeness :
> 
> 1) Change the default path where home directories are 
> created. If using adduser to create users, edit DHOME in 
> /etc/adduser.conf. If using useradd, edit HOME in 
> /etc/default/useradd.

is this method applicable also to just existing "principal" 
user account ? I just need one per each Distro actually

> Of course if a first user is created during the 
> installation, its home directory will not be created in the 
> alternate path. You can move its home directory with usermod 
> -d -m, or just delete this user.

ah, here it is !

I'm reading some man for usermode, saying the user to be 
relocated must not be login and, more over, none of its 
files opened (this last is obscure to me)

> 
> 2) Use LVM on the big drive and create a logical volume for 
> each OS home directory. This way they are much more isolated 
> than with other solutions.

but I'm not looking for isolatio, but sharing of everithing 
not strictly regarding the system itself.

> If you are concerned about disk 
> space allocation, note that you can easily resize logical 
> volume, much more easily than partitions.

§§§§§

Oh, this has nothing to do with the original question, but 
maybe with BTRF

I have put all .VDI (virtual box image files) on a BTRF 
partition on SSD

They are extremely fast to load (read) and even slower than 
on normal spinning disk on save (write).
What did I misconfigure for such a result ?


-- 
1) Resistere, resistere, resistere.
2) Se tutti pagano le tasse, le tasse le pagano tutti
Soviet_Mario - (aka Gatto_Vizzato)

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#56933

On Mon, 17 Jun 2019 02:05:13 +0200, Soviet_Mario wrote:

> I would have had to take care to sync the UID and GID to the
> same values manually anyway

You can cut down your manual maintenance if you create users
on new install in the same order. You can see the current creation order with
    sort -V -t ':' --key=2 /etc/passwd


> (if I got what Carlos suggested).
> The only different among the users is they must have their
> config files, nothing else

Except links of the following
    Desktop
    Documents
    Downloads
    Music
    Pictures
    Templates
    Videos
and maybe some hidden files/directories to the user's shared location
for example .VirtualBox

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#56959

Le 17/06/2019 à 02:05, Soviet_Mario a écrit :
>>>
>>> So this I think is not a home sharing, just DATA sharing : just home 
>>> relocation in a shared drive.
>>
>> May I ask why you want to do this ?
>> Why don't you simply want to create separate filesystems for each OS 
>> /home ?
> 
> for record : I'm reading this AFTER my reply in the other thread. So, 
> well, I did not actually forget or paid little attention : I hadn't read 
> it already when I opened the other thread.

All fine. Now do you mind to explain why you want to do this ?

>> Symlinks can be used as part of one solution. For example on OS "foo" 
>> after installing it :
>> - Mount the big drive on, say, /data (and update fstab accordingly)
>> - move /home to /data/foo
>> - create a symlink /home pointing to /data/foo
> 
> where do I have to put this symlink ? Directly in /
> or in /home ?

"/home" is an absolute pathname and means that the object "home" is 
directly in /. /home as a directory does not exist any more after it as 
been moved/renamed as /data/foo, so you would not be able to put 
anything in /home.

>> This solution has a disadvantage : all OSes can see all home 
>> directories of all other OSes. Some users on different OSes will 
>> probably have the same numerical User ID (many distributions use 
>> UID=1000 for the first user). A user in any OS can access the home 
>> directory of any other user which has the same UID in any other OS.
> 
> this would be highly appreciated as my need is right to SHARE all data 
> among distros. The various users are just myself, nobody else.
> I would have had to take care to sync the UID and GID to the same values 
> manually anyway (if I got what Carlos suggested).
> The only different among the users is they must have their config files, 
> nothing else

Why then don't you store the data files in a common location outside 
home directories and leave the home directories in their respective root 
filesystems, as already suggested by others ? That would avoid 
scattering data files across all home directories.

> I'm reading some man for usermode, saying the user to be relocated must 
> not be login and, more over, none of its files opened (this last is 
> obscure to me)

A file is opened when it is currently used by any local process. The 
current working directory counts as an opened file. Files in a user home 
directory may be opened even if the user is not logged in, for instance 
if a web server with user home pages enabled is running and the user has 
set a home page.

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#56964

Il 18/06/19 13:52, Pascal Hambourg ha scritto:
> Le 17/06/2019 à 02:05, Soviet_Mario a écrit :
>>>>
>>>> So this I think is not a home sharing, just DATA sharing 
>>>> : just home relocation in a shared drive.
>>>
>>> May I ask why you want to do this ?
>>> Why don't you simply want to create separate filesystems 
>>> for each OS /home ?
>>
>> for record : I'm reading this AFTER my reply in the other 
>> thread. So, well, I did not actually forget or paid little 
>> attention : I hadn't read it already when I opened the 
>> other thread.
> 
> All fine.

good !

> Now do you mind to explain why you want to do this ?
> 
>>> Symlinks can be used as part of one solution. For example 
>>> on OS "foo" after installing it :
>>> - Mount the big drive on, say, /data (and update fstab 
>>> accordingly)
>>> - move /home to /data/foo
>>> - create a symlink /home pointing to /data/foo
>>
>> where do I have to put this symlink ? Directly in /
>> or in /home ?
> 
> "/home" is an absolute pathname and means that the object 
> "home" is directly in /. /home as a directory does not exist 
> any more after it as been moved/renamed as /data/foo, so you 
> would not be able to put anything in /home.

okay, I understand the difference, but then where shoul I 
have to put the symlink to "external home" ? Directly under 
root (/) where the former /home was ?
If I did so, the system would see and treat the symlink 
exactly as the original home ?

> 
>>> This solution has a disadvantage : all OSes can see all 
>>> home directories of all other OSes. Some users on 
>>> different OSes will probably have the same numerical User 
>>> ID (many distributions use UID=1000 for the first user). 
>>> A user in any OS can access the home directory of any 
>>> other user which has the same UID in any other OS.
>>
>> this would be highly appreciated as my need is right to 
>> SHARE all data among distros. The various users are just 
>> myself, nobody else.
>> I would have had to take care to sync the UID and GID to 
>> the same values manually anyway (if I got what Carlos 
>> suggested).
>> The only different among the users is they must have their 
>> config files, nothing else
> 
> Why then don't you store the data files in a common location 
> outside home directories 

this is just done. In the new drive, /media/MOMES is a 
folder named "My" when I have moved all of the documents 
managed manually by myself.

But they are not the problem, the problem are the files that 
installed sw (or even some sw itself) have placed under 
"DOT" folders, which those SW expect to find in their 
original place. If the symlink trick them then all fine

Can you give me an example of symlink synthax

> and leave the home directories in 
> their respective root filesystems, as already suggested by 
> others ? 

mmm, seems safer to me on need to reinstall the system. I 
would non create any new /home on reinstall, just recreate 
the symlink ... or is it wrong ?

> That would avoid scattering data files across all 
> home directories.
> 
>> I'm reading some man for usermode, saying the user to be 
>> relocated must not be login and, more over, none of its 
>> files opened (this last is obscure to me)
> 
> A file is opened when it is currently used by any local 
> process. The current working directory counts as an opened 
> file. Files in a user home directory may be opened even if 
> the user is not logged in,

so how to close those files to enable moving ?

>  for instance if a web server with 
> user home pages enabled is running and the user has set a 
> home page.


-- 
1) Resistere, resistere, resistere.
2) Se tutti pagano le tasse, le tasse le pagano tutti
Soviet_Mario - (aka Gatto_Vizzato)

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#56965

On Tue, 18 Jun 2019 18:36:43 +0200, Soviet_Mario wrote:


> Can you give me an example of symlink synthax

You might want to bookmark the following:
   https://encrypted.google.com/advanced_search

Putting the following in the first box of the above link
  create linux symlink example
gets me
        About 1,020,000 results (0.84 seconds)

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#56972

On 2019-06-18, Soviet_Mario <SovietMario@CCCP.MIR> wrote:
> Il 18/06/19 13:52, Pascal Hambourg ha scritto:
>> Le 17/06/2019 à 02:05, Soviet_Mario a écrit :
>>>>>
>>>>> So this I think is not a home sharing, just DATA sharing 
>>>>> : just home relocation in a shared drive.
>>>>
>>>> May I ask why you want to do this ?
>>>> Why don't you simply want to create separate filesystems 
>>>> for each OS /home ?
>>>
>>> for record : I'm reading this AFTER my reply in the other 
>>> thread. So, well, I did not actually forget or paid little 
>>> attention : I hadn't read it already when I opened the 
>>> other thread.
>> 
>> All fine.
>
> good !
>
>> Now do you mind to explain why you want to do this ?
>> 
>>>> Symlinks can be used as part of one solution. For example 
>>>> on OS "foo" after installing it :
>>>> - Mount the big drive on, say, /data (and update fstab 
>>>> accordingly)
>>>> - move /home to /data/foo
>>>> - create a symlink /home pointing to /data/foo
>>>
>>> where do I have to put this symlink ? Directly in /
>>> or in /home ?
>> 
>> "/home" is an absolute pathname and means that the object 
>> "home" is directly in /. /home as a directory does not exist 
>> any more after it as been moved/renamed as /data/foo, so you 
>> would not be able to put anything in /home.
>
> okay, I understand the difference, but then where shoul I 
> have to put the symlink to "external home" ? Directly under 
> root (/) where the former /home was ?
> If I did so, the system would see and treat the symlink 
> exactly as the original home ?

You know what-- You claim to have difficulty reading man pages, but
apparently have difficulty reading anything You  have been told numerous
times that where you put a home directory does not matter as long as you
change the last field in /etc/passwd to list the location of the home
directory for each person. Or, if editing /etc/passwd fills you with
dread   then make sure the location listed in /etc/passwd is a soft link
to the actual location of the users home directory

>
>> 
>>>> This solution has a disadvantage : all OSes can see all 
>>>> home directories of all other OSes. Some users on 
>>>> different OSes will probably have the same numerical User 
>>>> ID (many distributions use UID=1000 for the first user). 
>>>> A user in any OS can access the home directory of any 
>>>> other user which has the same UID in any other OS.
>>>
>>> this would be highly appreciated as my need is right to 
>>> SHARE all data among distros. The various users are just 
>>> myself, nobody else.
>>> I would have had to take care to sync the UID and GID to 
>>> the same values manually anyway (if I got what Carlos 
>>> suggested).
>>> The only different among the users is they must have their 
>>> config files, nothing else
>> 
>> Why then don't you store the data files in a common location 
>> outside home directories 
>
> this is just done. In the new drive, /media/MOMES is a 
> folder named "My" when I have moved all of the documents 
> managed manually by myself.
>
> But they are not the problem, the problem are the files that 
> installed sw (or even some sw itself) have placed under 
> "DOT" folders, which those SW expect to find in their 
> original place. If the symlink trick them then all fine
>
> Can you give me an example of symlink synthax
>
>> and leave the home directories in 
>> their respective root filesystems, as already suggested by 
>> others ? 
>
> mmm, seems safer to me on need to reinstall the system. I 
> would non create any new /home on reinstall, just recreate 
> the symlink ... or is it wrong ?
>
>> That would avoid scattering data files across all 
>> home directories.
>> 
>>> I'm reading some man for usermode, saying the user to be 
>>> relocated must not be login and, more over, none of its 
>>> files opened (this last is obscure to me)
>> 
>> A file is opened when it is currently used by any local 
>> process. The current working directory counts as an opened 
>> file. Files in a user home directory may be opened even if 
>> the user is not logged in,
>
> so how to close those files to enable moving ?
>
>>  for instance if a web server with 
>> user home pages enabled is running and the user has set a 
>> home page.
>
>

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#57053

Le 18/06/2019 à 18:36, Soviet_Mario a écrit :
> Il 18/06/19 13:52, Pascal Hambourg ha scritto:
>>
>>>> Symlinks can be used as part of one solution. For example on OS 
>>>> "foo" after installing it :
>>>> - Mount the big drive on, say, /data (and update fstab accordingly)
>>>> - move /home to /data/foo
>>>> - create a symlink /home pointing to /data/foo
>>>
>>> where do I have to put this symlink ? Directly in /
>>> or in /home ?
>>
>> "/home" is an absolute pathname and means that the object "home" is 
>> directly in /. /home as a directory does not exist any more after it 
>> as been moved/renamed as /data/foo, so you would not be able to put 
>> anything in /home.
> 
> okay, I understand the difference, but then where shoul I have to put 
> the symlink to "external home" ? Directly under root (/) where the 
> former /home was ?

What is still unclear for you in "'/home' means that the object 'home' 
is *directly* in /" ?

> But they are not the problem, the problem are the files that installed 
> sw (or even some sw itself) have placed under "DOT" folders, which those 
> SW expect to find in their original place

You don't want to share these dot files and directories, do you ? So why 
do you want to place them in a common partition ?

>> A file is opened when it is currently used by any local process. The 
>> current working directory counts as an opened file. Files in a user 
>> home directory may be opened even if the user is not logged in,
> 
> so how to close those files to enable moving ?

Terminate the processes using these files (close the user session if a 
session is opened, terminate the service which uses these files...).

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#57058

On 20/06/2019 23.31, Pascal Hambourg wrote:
> Le 18/06/2019 à 18:36, Soviet_Mario a écrit :
>> Il 18/06/19 13:52, Pascal Hambourg ha scritto:
>>>
>>> A file is opened when it is currently used by any local process. The 
>>> current working directory counts as an opened file. Files in a user 
>>> home directory may be opened even if the user is not logged in,
>>
>> so how to close those files to enable moving ?
> 
> Terminate the processes using these files (close the user session if a 
> session is opened, terminate the service which uses these files...).

Simplest is to boot into single user mode, then you are root and no 
issues to move user's home directories.
It's also possible to boot into another distribution than the ones files 
you want to move, as then you know you ain't locking those and you can 
then even move the root users home directory (shouldn't be that much 
file in that one, so a "cp -a" had worked if the directory is in use)

Not sure about the sanity of the whole setup...

-- 

  //Aho

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