On Saturday 13 June 2009 15:02:26 AG wrote:
> Hello list
>
> I am currently running Debian Squeeze and am considering the feasibility
> of switching to Gentoo due to several issues I am experiencing with a
> new machine with a SATA HDD and a TSSTcorp CDDVDW TS-H653Z which refuses
> to play audio CDs and pre-recorded DVDs.
>
> In any event, because I have loads of data on my /home partition, I'm
> curious about a few things, primarily what are the implications of
> dual-booting with Gentoo as my second OS, so that I can experience
> Gentoo without losing my data, etc.
You have to ensure that the config files you have in your home directory are
compatible with both systems. If you have a directive in a file that works
correctly on one version and causes catastrophic failures if used on another,
you have to be sure you do not use the latter.
Luckily, this is exceptionally rare.
Unluckily, only a manual audit can find this out.
Luckily, we have this other grand idea called a backup :-) Just backup the dot
files.
As for data files, no need to worry. They will be just fine.
> How compatible are Gentoo and Debian in terms of using a shared /home
> directory - I am concerned about uid for the directory for instance
> which, if I changed it for Gentoo, may not work for Debian and vice versa.
Both use the same GNU tools to do stuff. Just ensure that your UID is the same
on both systems. "useradd -u" and "usermod -u" and "chown -R" are the tools
you need to do it right and/or correct any mistakes afterwards
In short, you have to do something spectacularly stupid (or act like a
clueless Windows user) or have monumental bad luck to actually successfully
break stuff here.
You might want to read wizard screens on automated installers too and make
sure you don't click the box that asks to
"create /home, delete and format it? (y/n)"
It's not likely you will make this error. As a Debian user, it is normally
safe to assume you can, in fact, read :-)
--
alan dot mckinnon at gmail dot com
