Organized Install/Boot of Multiple Linux OSes
 

Hi,

I'm currently using a machine to evaluate multiple Linux distributions. I can multiboot them without problems using Grub.

However, I'd like to install and boot them in a more organized manner, possibly with a single swap space and a single home partition. Any suggestions or links on how I couldapproach this?

Thanks!

PB

make a /boot (so they all use the same kernel) and /home (so you keep your preferences).
only one swap partition is nessecary
The rest is done with lilo

NB:

You must keep the same User ID on each distribution, otherwise files may well become screwed!

Match user ID number to home directory!

Create the home partition on the first install only!

Add it to the other installations as an entry in /etc/fstab *after* the installation has been done

Thanks, people! I'll try some of these suggestions and report back!

how do you do that? adding the other installs to /etc/fstab

Thanks

Please bear with me, it's been a while since I booted into linux.
Currently I've been using colinux to run my linux partition from within Windows XP.

Note down the partition used for /home on the first install:

grep home /etc/fstab

Possible output:

/home /dev/hda4 ext3 defaults 0 1


For Each additional installation:
1. Add this line into the /etc/fstab file
2. Ensure there is a directory under / called home
i. If there is create a backup of any subdirectories
ii. If not then type: mkdir /home
3. Type: mount /home


Get the user id numbers from /etc/passwd:

grep home /etc/passwd

Possible output:

bob:x:500:500:Example Account:/home/bob:/bin/bash
fred:x:501:501:Example Account 2:/home/fred:/bin/bash

Check Group ID's from /etc/group

bob:x:500:
fred:x:501:

For Each additional installation:

groupadd -g 500 bob
groupadd -g 501 fred

useradd -u 500 -g bob -c "Example Account" -d /home/bob bob
useradd -u 501 -g fred -c "Eaxmple Account 2" -d /home/fred fred

Job Done