Re: A "Where am I" routine

[Richard Owlett <rowlett@cloud85.net>]

On 07/06/2018 07:15 AM, Zenaan Harkness wrote:
> On Fri, Jul 06, 2018 at 06:25:43AM -0500, Richard Owlett wrote:
> > I multi-boot several configurations &/or releases of Debian.
> > I will run identical test scripts on each.
> > I want to store the results in a common logging file.
> >
> > I can set up an appropriate environment with a custom fstab containing:
> > >   # create a common area
> > >   LABEL=owlcommon /home/richard/Documents/tst_common vfat user,rw,umask=000 0 0
> > >   # a dummy mount labeled to show which instance
> > >   LABEL=dummy /home/richard/Documents/where/sda14 ext4 user,ro 0 0
> > The first statement gives me a directory usable by all.
> > The second tells me where I am by using:
> >     ls /home/richard/Documents/where
> > in any test script.
>
> OK, a directory existing/ named per your location. Sounds reasonable.
> My default would normally be to create a config file "per host/ per
> test env" containing one or more env vars (which specify what I need
> to know about that host/ test-env, which I would "source" in bash
> scripts which do things depending on the test environment.

I think I follow your logic. But I could not implement it. What man 
pages should I read? What term(s) should I use in a WEB search to get an 
overview?

As I've only one machine, I'm never conscious of it having a host name.
When I do a new install the same string is generally used for both the 
host name and the partition label - generally a reminder of current purpose.

E.G.
hostname returns "debian-jan13" -- when installed was key information
Partition label is "new-net-inst" -- I didn't install from DVD.
The partition is /dev/sda14 .
Desired information dependent on topic-du-jour.


> But a shared/ mounted directory sounds fine too - that's also a place
> where you can store logs etc.
>
> Happy testing,