Share 15.3 home with 15.4

Batchman

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Oct 30, 2022, 3:50:37 PM10/30/22

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Want to retain openSuse 15.3 system and add install of 15.4 to same hard drive,
then edit fstab of 15.4 so it shares the 15.3 /home partition.
Want to retain 15.3 simply as a backup, using 15.4 for every day use.
Would such a system work?

Malcolm

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Oct 30, 2022, 5:14:51 PM10/30/22

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Hi
I would suggest creating a new username for the Leap 15.4 system just
in case there are config changes that would conflict.

--
Cheers Malcolm °¿° (Linux Counter #276890)
Tumbleweed 20221029 | GNOME Shell 43.0 | 6.0.5-1-default
HP Z440 | Xeon E5-2690 V3 X24 @ 2.60GHz | Nvidia Quadro T400/GT1030
up 23:52, 2 users, load average: 0.35, 0.72, 0.78

Carlos E.R.

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Oct 30, 2022, 5:48:08 PM10/30/22

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Simple answer: NO.

In text mode, very possibly yes. In a complex GUI such as Plasma, Gnome,
XFCE, there are a myriad configurations, and it is very possible that
some setting in 15.4 would conflict with another one in 15.3 and result
in corruption somewhere, crashes, or who knows what.

You can share the partition IF you use different user names, so that the
home folders are different.

You can share data files of applications. Mostly. Some application might
have changes there, so work with caution. So you could symlink the
Documents folder, for example.

--
Cheers, Carlos.

Batchman

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Oct 31, 2022, 3:56:17 PM10/31/22

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On Sun, 30 Oct 2022 22:46:03 +0100, Carlos E.R. wrote:

> On 2022-10-30 20:50, Batchman wrote:
>> Want to retain 15.3 simply as a backup, using 15.4 for every day use.
>> Would such a system work?
>
> Simple answer: NO.
>
> In text mode, very possibly yes. In a complex GUI such as Plasma, Gnome,
> XFCE, there are a myriad configurations, and it is very possible that
> some setting in 15.4 would conflict with another one in 15.3 and result
> in corruption somewhere, crashes, or who knows what.

Those kind of possibilities have been concerning me.

>
> You can share the partition IF you use different user names, so that the
> home folders are different.

Thanks for your very detailed reply!

Batchman

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Oct 31, 2022, 3:58:06 PM10/31/22

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On Sun, 30 Oct 2022 16:14:48 -0500, Malcolm wrote:

> On Sun, 30 Oct 2022 19:50:35 -0000 (UTC)
> Batchman <batc...@dosville.foo> wrote:
>
>> Want to retain 15.3 simply as a backup, using 15.4 for
>> every day use. Would such a system work?
>

> I would suggest creating a new username for the Leap 15.4 system just
> in case there are config changes that would conflict.

Thanks for your suggestion.

bad sector

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Oct 31, 2022, 9:52:12 PM10/31/22

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On Sun, 30 Oct 2022 16:14:48 -0500, Malcolm wrote:

> On Sun, 30 Oct 2022 19:50:35 -0000 (UTC)
> Batchman <batc...@dosville.foo> wrote:
>
>> Want to retain openSuse 15.3 system and add install of 15.4 to same
>> hard drive, then edit fstab of 15.4 so it shares the 15.3 /home
>> partition. Want to retain 15.3 simply as a backup, using 15.4 for every
>> day use. Would such a system work?
> Hi I would suggest creating a new username for the Leap 15.4 system just
> in case there are config changes that would conflict.

Like Carlos said, it can be problematic. I've been pissing
around with trying to run 7 distros with such commonality
issues but with many headaches even though IMO such is the
only future ahead. As an example for all other devs Sylpheed
(my mailer) does this absolutely flawlessly, I have a single
.Sylpheed folder on a data drive and all 7 distros use that
so regardless of which I boot my mail is all THE same A-Z.
Gftp also does well, the WORST offenders BY FAR are the
mozillas. BTW user id, number, groups, perms must all match!

In your case you could try a data partition with a /myhomes
folder. Then have a userYou-15.3 folder in it which links
in as /home/userYou in the 15.3 installation and a userYou-15.4
folder which also links in as /home/userYou but in the 15.4
installation. Once you get it going you can create a
/myhomes/commons folder and copy the .gftp folder from either
the 15.3 or the 15.4 /home/userYou into it. When done rename
that original 15.3/home/userYou/,gftp as .gftp-real and create
a link .gftp pointing to the real .gftp folder in /myhomes/commons

You can real soon get real dizzy with such stunts but if you
go gradually and methodically you'll get what you want at
least with partial commonality.

HTH ...and please no summons to your divorce hearings :-)

Malcolm

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Nov 1, 2022, 10:41:54 AM11/1/22

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Hi
I do the same with a /data partition and symlinks to all the common
stuff that isn't distro/release specific. Then just have a script that
sets those up.

--
Cheers Malcolm °¿° (Linux Counter #276890)

Tumbleweed 20221031 | GNOME Shell 43.0 | 6.0.5-1-default

HP Z440 | Xeon E5-2690 V3 X24 @ 2.60GHz | Nvidia Quadro T400/GT1030

up 1 day 1:45, 2 users, load average: 0.44, 0.85, 0.73

bad sector

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Nov 1, 2022, 7:52:53 PM11/1/22

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I still do it the spanish way (Emanual) because of many
distros and still a very dynamic matrix. Ultimately the
objective would be to have all OS and application files
shared, which is what Sylpheed and a growing number of
others already accommodate seamlessly (hint 4 other devs).

Batchman

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Nov 13, 2022, 5:03:07 PM11/13/22

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On Tue, 01 Nov 2022 01:52:07 +0000, bad sector wrote:

> SNIP

> You can real soon get real dizzy with such stunts but if you
> go gradually and methodically you'll get what you want at
> least with partial commonality.
>
> HTH ...and please no summons to your divorce hearings :-)

Assure you that won't occure.

Thanks for your extensive suggestions but have given up on the
original idea and now intend to just upgrade version 15.3.

Now find the / btrfs partition needs to be increased in size.
Is it possible to do so and retain the files/folders currently present?

Carlos E.R.

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Nov 13, 2022, 6:24:08 PM11/13/22

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On 2022-11-13 23:03, Batchman wrote:
> On Tue, 01 Nov 2022 01:52:07 +0000, bad sector wrote:

...

> Now find the / btrfs partition needs to be increased in size.
> Is it possible to do so and retain the files/folders currently present?

Yes.

But I can not explain, I intentionally keep away from btrfs.

--
Cheers, Carlos.

Batchman

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Nov 16, 2022, 2:47:06 PM11/16/22

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Thanks once again for your help.

Carlos E.R.

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Nov 16, 2022, 3:28:09 PM11/16/22

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You know that you can also ask on the openSUSE mail list or web forum,
or IRC channel. There will be people there that know how to do this.

--
Cheers, Carlos.

Batchman

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Nov 18, 2022, 4:17:26 PM11/18/22

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On Wed, 16 Nov 2022 21:25:35 +0100, Carlos E.R. wrote:

>
> You know that you can also ask on the openSUSE mail list or web forum,
> or IRC channel. There will be people there that know how to do this.

Have used the web forum but put off by the attitude of some there.
Will check out the mail list, thanks!