Re: Relocating many homes in subfolders of a dedicated internal HDD

From	Pascal Hambourg <pascal@plouf.fr.eu.org>
Newsgroups	alt.os.linux
Subject	Re: Relocating many homes in subfolders of a dedicated internal HDD
Date	2019-06-15 19:47 +0200
Organization	Plouf !
Message-ID	<qe3avf$1s7c$1@saria.nerim.net> (permalink)
References	<qdu5oe$kkp$1@dont-email.me>

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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.

Thread

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

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