i bounce around from desktop to laptop. i have a server 24/7....
would like to share settings/ more like firefox bookmarks.
thinking do i simlink home files to server? or is there a better way?

Will you always be on the same network as the server, or are you looking to do this from remote locations when on the laptop?

If you are always on the same network, you could simply mount /home on both machines onto a shared directory on the server via NFS. You could do the same over the Internet, but performance would be an issue (as well as security).

If the laptop and desktop do not have the same distros with the same versions of all software then there could be compatibility issues when using the same home directory for both. This is the same issue as when having multiple distros on one computer. All is not lost! You can work around the issue by having a home directory which is on the local computer and another directory which is on the server with the files and directories which you can share.

An example may clarify. For Mozilla software including Firefox. On the server you could have an /srv/home directory with /srv/home/me for yourself including the .mozilla directory, populated by copying and existing ~/.mozilla directory. On the laptop and desktop you could have a /mnt/server/home directory and NFS mount server:/srv/home on it. On the laptop and desktop you could move any existing .mozilla directory aside by renaming it (better not to delete until all is working!) and create a symlink called .mozilla pointing to /mnt/server/home/me/.mozilla.

And similarly for other programs that can share their home files and directories. I have .VirtualBox .azureus .keepass .mozilla .openoffice.org and .thunderbird set up this way for use during OS upgrade (so local, not server-based) and they haven't broken yet.

To make Firefox bookmarks common. Open about:config and edit browser.bookmarks.file. You'll need to ensure that location is always available from your server. If Windows is not involved then NFS is a straightforward way to share that directory.

Recent versions of firefox have a synchronization feature built in (under Tools/Set up sync).

Brian

1 members found this post helpful.

excellent. thanks guys.

i'll tinker with this later this afternoon when i get home.

TY

i did the sync through the mozilla servers.
works fine.