[Novalug] More than one linux version on a machine question

[John Franklin]

On Apr 29, 2012, at 2:21 PM, Bonnie Dalzell wrote:

> 
> Part 1 -
> If you have more than one linux installed in different / partitions 
> and 
> each one has its own /var partition is it safe to use the same /home 
> partition for both of them?
> 
> I am speaking of Linux Mint XFCe and what is supposedly my Ubuntu 
> Linux XFCE which reports itself as gnome.
> 


The part 1 answer is a little tricky.  In general, yes, it is possible.  The problems you'll run into is all the app configuration files in your home directory, the .*rc files, and in particular the Gnome configuration.

As long as the software versions of both Mint and Ubunut can understand and write configurations the other side makes/uses, then all is well.  But if one side "upgrades" a configuration, the other side may not be able to read it , or it may not behave correctly.  I see it happen most often with Gnome apps and specifically Evolution, which can so easily confuse itself that I find it barely usable.

jf