Re: Separate /home directories etc?
On Sun 08 Jul 2018 at 07:47:48 (-0500), Richard Owlett wrote:
> On 07/06/2018 03:47 PM, Richard Owlett wrote:
> >In response to a unrelated post to a LUG, I was asked if I had a
> >separate /home directory. Short answer -- no.
> >
> >I abandoned WinXP when Jessie had become stable.
> >The installer defaults {I assume for cause} to putting every thing
> >on one partition/directory.
> >
> >Where may I read about pros/cons ?
> >TIA
>
> On 07/06/2018 03:54 PM, Matthew Crews wrote:
> >>Pros to keeping same partition together
> >>Pros: less hassle
> >>Cons: if your / partition drive fails, it takes /home with it
> >>
> >>Separate partitions
> >>Pros: if your / partition drive fails, it does not take /home with it
> >>Pros: easier to run multiple distros
> >>Cons: more hassle
>
> That was succinct.
>
> On 07/06/2018 06:40 PM, ntrfug wrote:
> >
> >>The home directory contains not only "personal data" but configuration
> >>directories for all your apps.
> >>
> >>I long ago settled on a middle-of-the-road solution--I have a partition
> >>mounted on /home/ntrfug/files which contains all my "data" such as
> >>email, photos, documents, non-distribution software, bank statements,
> >>etc. I've been doing this for ~20 years and I still like it. I can
> >>reinstall nuking the home directory to take advantage of updated
> >>configurations but still keep my word processing documents, email, and
> >>general umm, stuff.
> >>
>
> That illustrates why I phrased my question {"Where may I read about
> pros/cons ?"} as I did.
>
> I expecting referrals to "essay"/"HowTo"/"tutorial"/??? .
> There have bee several descriptions of how&why individuals do what they do.
>
> I was expecting an article which surveyed the topic, seeing "the
> forest not the trees".
Is it a big enough topic to deserve a whole article? I would expect
articles on partitioning to mention it in passing, as for example:
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/partitioning
(The Debian wikis are rather shallow.)
But, as it stresses, "It is essentially personal preference" as to
how you arrange your partitions, because it depends so much on how
you use your system.
Their caveat on sharing /home has been emphasised here in stronger
terms by Greg, and really applies more to DE users than people like me.
https://lists.debian.org/debian-user/2018/07/msg00337.html
With the number of Debian installations you have, I would expect a
shared home to be very useful as it makes your personal tools more
immediately available. It might be useful to hear whether you have
much dotfile trouble, and how you circumvent it. This could be a
useful application of your WhereAmI and EditingPipedSreams threads.
But only you can be the judge of the pros and cons for your system.
Cheers,
David.
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