On Sun, Sep 19, 2004 at 03:49:46AM +0200, Markus Huber wrote: > >Sorry, yes, I meant mounting *as* /home/username, so not only my docs > >but also all the config directories (/home/.*) get shared between the > >machines (not simultaneously, of course). Any idea why mounting an > >external drive as /home/username isn't possible? > > Maybe it is possible. I suppose during installation Fedora has to > recognize the external disk so that it can get the mountpoint /home. If > that is possible, then there is no problem using an external drive as > /home directory. A portable home dir is sort of a chicken egg thing. If you login and $HOME as established in /etc/passwd is not there bad things happen. In some systems you will be given / or /tmp as a home dir. In other systems you cannot login at all. If you login then plug an automounted home dir then where you are was just overlain by the portable filesystem and files that are open may continue (inode open under mount point) but lots the .files for login are not those you now see. In some cases removable media permissions are established by the owner of the console. If this was just a tty text only situation I would build a script "newhome" and invoke it thus " . newhome". In it I would test for /mnt/newhome or some famous location then test for /mnt/newhome/me and source dotfiles and fiddle with the environment so things worked. But with X this could be more of a tangle.... If automount mounts it first with the correct permissions and then you login it should work. One serious caution is the unplug actions, data integrety and filesystem choice. Interesting topic. Make a test user with no important data on two boxes and tinker. -- T o m M i t c h e l l In the USA, vote informed, second Tuesday Nov 2004.
