I am using precisely the same solution as morgan: for each bootable
file-system its own /home directory, all my permanent data live in a
separate (non-bootable) file-system (yes, and with binary uid/gid-to-
alphanumeric name mappings that match).
Several advantages to this solution:
- coexistance between conflicting version-dependant private folders (the
problem of Barry. for instance .kde4/..., but the same problem may
arrise for other applications)
- sharing of permanent data between bootable file-systems (multi-boot
between different OSses - or cauldron and Mageia1)
- ease for backup - I make daily backups only of the permanent data
file-system.
To make life easy with such a solution, I use a script that, when I
install a new system, creates links form its /home directory to
directories in the file-system that contains my permanent data. (Except
for the user to be declared at sys-install, uid/gid-to-name mapping can
also be standardised with the help of simple scripts - not really
necessary if there are just some few users.)
De-facto, my /home directory has only 3 functions: (1) contain files and
directories like .bashrc or .kde4/, (2) contain the links to my
permanent data directories, (3) for use as support for scratch data that
is not backed up and does not need to be carefully structured.
