Hi,

I'm trying to install CodeWeavers.CrossOver.v7.0.2. what I find different from previous versions of CrossOver is that its installation now have two different modes: User mode & Private multi-user mode. Ref:

http://www.codeweavers.com/support/d...andard/install

However, none of the mode is what I want. I want my software installed under CrossOver follow the Linux philosophy, root install it and everyone use it. However, then new CrossOver (since v7.0) follows the windows philosophy -- every user install their own software. quoting from above url:

- "each user on the system can install and run the Windows software of his or her choosing."
- "If you are installing CrossOver for use by multiple users, you should use this installation mode."
- "Installing Windows applications as root in this install mode is almost certainly pointless. These applications will be usable by root and root alone."

Have anyone find a way to have just one copy of software installed under CrossOver and share them across all users?

Thanks

As I see it, wine/crossover do follow the Linux philosophy. There is only one wineserver executable and related libraries installed on the system. But every user has his/her own individualized configuration when running it. And since the whole purpose of wine/crossover is to run Windows programs, it's those programs that are configured by the individual user.

I imagine it's possible though to set up a single central "Windows" directory, with permissions set up so that all users can run the Windows programs in it. You'd just have to be sure that each user's crossover configuration is set up to access it properly. At least, that's how I imagine it would work. Setting it up on wine would be fairly easy, but I've never used crossover so I don't know how similar it is in configuration.

Thanks for the reply.

This is what I get while trying to setup all users using the same bottle. Sigh... what a waste of disk space to duplicate the exact same bottle across all users. Sigh... I understand it is "smart" merchant's "smart" decision, but for me, the idea is stupid, stupid, stupid...

Nope. Crossover follows the linux philosophy, just like every linux program.

You usually install (as root, and only as root) crossover on your system. And users can install or compile whatever they want on their home directories, but that won't affect your system at all.

However, windows programs follow the windows policy, even if you install them under crossover. That's not linux nor crossover's fault. Hence, to make then behave "the linux way", so they can only access your docs and nothing else, the easiest way is to install a separate copy on the user home. And that's what wine (and crossover by extension) does.

Wine is a linux program (interchange "wine" and "crossover" if you wish). That means that anything that that program writes, must be writen in the home dir or the user or a tmp directory like /tmp or /var/tmp. Anything else (i.e. a global install) would be a blatant violation of the linux policies, contrary to what you thought.

For wine, a windows program is like for vim a text document. And where do you save the products created by vim: in your home. Where do you save the files downloaded by kget or firefox: in your home. Where do gimp save your images: in your home. Where does wine save it's "products": in your home.

The fact that this product has a .exe extension or a .txt one shouldn't make any difference. You can consider it like saving rom images for a snes emulator (though technically wine is not an emulator).

I guess that tweaking the wine source code it might be possible to use any other location that's non writable by the regular user to store the programs. The main problem with that is that windows programs will assume they can write there, and will miserably fail at startup or when they try to write anything in runtime. So this is not a trivial thing.

Windows programs are designed to run with an high degree of privileges, and that would be impossible if they are to be embedded into the main hierarchy of linux directories. The easiest way of having such privileges is to run them on your home directory. And that's what wine and its derivative do.

Yeah, I think that is where our differences are in the view of Crossover/Wine.

For me, the only reason to install Wine is to use the Windows applications. By linux philosophy, I meant that *applications* should be shared. Whether under Wine or not should not matter, otherwise, the philosophy can only be partially true. I personally don't think it is a good idea to duplicate a 900M Windows suit over and over into each user's home. The actual files users write/create should go to their individual homes.

In this sense, I view Wine more like chroot to Debian64 -- an extension to current applications. Debian64 used to not able to install some 32b applications, and it uses chroot to installed and run them under the chroot jail. To me, applications installed under chroot should not be like for vim a text document. One copy of applications for every one is enough.

I know for the profit-oriented Windows, things are entirely different. I just feel sad that Wine/Crossover is enforcing such evil practice. I checked to see if I can remove the checking that says "the_bottle is not owned by you", but found that it is carefully wrapped in the same part that check and verify your Crossover serial number.

Wine/Crossover has been following linux philosophy well. I had been able to install one copy of Windows applications for everybody. This is a home linux system, so by everybody, I actually mean two people, me and my wife. I have to say that I am very disappointed with this new direction that Wine/Crossover is heading to.