Re: [PLUG] Alternate /home (new topic)

[Art Alexion <art.alexion@gmail.com>]

On Mon, Jan 10, 2011 at 1:29 PM, K.S. Bhaskar <bhaskar@bhaskars.com> wrote:
> 2011/1/10 Art Alexion <art.alexion@gmail.com>:
>> On Sun, Jan 9, 2011 at 2:09 PM, K.S. Bhaskar <bhaskar@bhaskars.com> wrote:
>>> I always set up a system with two alternate root partitions.
>>>
>>> Once I set up the initial root partition, I copy it over to another
>>> partition mounted as /spare.  Getting it to mount requires some minor
>>> editing of /etc/fstab and grub setup.  Each mounts the other as
>>> /spare.  I confirm that I can boot both.  Then I boot the alternate
>>> root only occasionally, just to verify that it's still sound.  Now, if
>>> I have some software updates go awry, or a version upgrade that fails,
>>> I just switch to the alternate root (and as likely as not make it my
>>> main root and recreate the original root from it).
>>>
>>> I always set up an encrypted /home.  But I configure my PC so that I
>>> can login without /home mounted.  When I cross an international border
>>> with my laptop, I always cross it with the laptop powered down.  Then
>>> if I am asked to boot it, I boot it, and can login - but it will be an
>>> innocuous /home, not my real /home (not that I have ever been asked to
>>> boot my laptop - just a sensible precaution, IMHO).  To mount the
>>> encrypted /home, I login as root and run a shell script:
>>
>>> In these days of monster disks, I usually have the fourth partition
>>> mounted as /extra from both roots.  I use this for anything that I am
>>> working on that doesn't need to be encrypted (e.g., since the software
>>> I work with, GT.M, is FOSS, I don't need an encrypted development
>>> environment for it.
>>
>> I really like this idea.  I understand that your shell script switches
>> between homes, but how did you set it up in the first place?
>
> [KSB] Art, I don't quite understand the question.  Are you asking how
> I initially create a /home?  Or how I mount /home when I boot the
> laptop?

I guess I am trying to understand the setup.  Is is simply a matter of
multiple homes associated with multiple users, one innocuous, and the
important one encrypted, or is it more than that?


-- 
artAlexion
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