Sharing files between distros

[Matthew Carpenter]

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It's not the *best* solution, probably, but I use Unison (with the
front-end "unison-gtk").  It's in most distros already.

I have, in my home directory, a folder named "SHARED", which I keep in
sync with my home server and several laptops/desktops.  I store stuff
in there that I want shared between installs and symlink to there.
It's common and standardized since every system is in sync.  It works
quite well for me, particularly with a GUI to help deal with
discrepancies (this changed on both systems since last sync).

Difficulties have included:
* Some HD's have more free space than others, so you have to keep that
in mind.  My SHARED dir has attained 4GB in size :\  but it's because
I use it for a certain level of backup on systems that have none.
* Combining different, existing home directories can be a real pain,
initially.
* Must keep up to date on syncing.  Manual or automated, this must be
done.
* I have a work laptop and personal one, and sometimes I don't want
all my home-written code on my work pc.

The Advantages abound, and I will not discuss them here.
Good luck.


Collins Richey wrote:

> I like to experiment with lots of distros, but I've grown tired of
> copying data between distros. Does anyone have a good (ie
> relatively trouble-free) scheme they would like to share? I'm
> principally looking at the following things. Would shared
> partitions with symlinks in the appropriate places be a good idea?
>
> 1) home directory. Obviously quite sharable if the ownership and
> permissions are correct (uid's gid's match). But what about the
> problem of varying kde, gnome, xfce, etc, etc that keep potentially
> incompatible hidden stuff in the home directory?
>
> 2) var (principally /var/lib for my MySQL/PostgreSQL databases and
> /var/www[/??? ] (usage varies considerably) for the apache root
> document directory. I'm sure that some distros are relatively
> incompatible in ownership and permissions for some of the stuff in
> /var.
>
> 3) boot. Any reason not to have the kernel, map, grub directory
> shared as long as unique kernel names are used? Also a quick way
> back to sanity when you encounter one of those accursed distros
> that don't allow you to install without overlaying the bootloader.
>
> 4) Any other tips and tricks, good practices, etc.
>
> Yeah, I already know the simple answer: just stick to
> _fill_in_your_favorite_distro. <grin>
>


- --
Matthew Carpenter
matt at eisgr.com                          http://www.eisgr.com/

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