[CentOS] Multiple program instances or multiple log ins?

Tue Dec 27 20:20:01 UTC 2005
Bryan J. Smith <thebs413 at earthlink.net>

Craig White <craigwhite at azapple.com> wrote:
> As for why evolution puts its files in hidden directories
> is because that is pretty much the gnome way and evolution
> is very much a gnome application.

Yep.

And it's pretty much the "UNIX way" in general.  You almost
_always_ put user files in the user's home directory.  That
way, it doesn't matter what terminal the user connects from,
or what access they have on the system, they have their same
home directory, settings, etc...

For access across servers, workstations, etc..., you use
"automounter map(s)" of mounts (typically NFS, although it
can be AFS or others), which is then utilized by the UNIX
client's automounter in the kernel.  When files are accessed
in a directory that is "automounted," the client will mount
that remote directory.  Automounter maps must be published in
a directory system, and the UNIX client setup to access that
directory system -- e.g., NIS, LDAP, etc...

Automounter maps are kinda like (again, this is a major
stretch) "publishing a share to Active Directory."  You have
to explicitly make the map so other systems can find it.

The big, and rather legacy (but it works damn well ;-),
approach in UNIX is to always give the user the same home
directory, with _all_ their settings.  How a LAN, mobile,
remote or otherwise non-local user accesses that same home
directory can be done countless ways, although NFS or AFS are
typical (avoid SMB mounts on Linux systems, long story -- and
it's not an option for the majority of UNIX flavors largely
because SMB mounts are a Linux VFS hack, again, long story).

Microsoft went through a host of attempts to "make it better"
than UNIX including \WINNT\PROFILE and \PROFILE and
\WINDOWS\PROFILE and \WINDOWS\Settings, etc... with cached,
roaming and other profiles, etc... before finally settling on
"\My Documents and Settings" which still are _not_
standardized like just the "UNIX way" of _always_ putting
everything in a user's home directory.  I could go into the
long history of NT v. Chicago on that (and the lack of
network-consideration in Chicago), but I won't bore you.

So, again, these are considerations that are larger UNIX
networking considerations, very, very different than typical
Windows assumptions.


-- 
Bryan J. Smith     Professional, Technical Annoyance                      b.j.smith at ieee.org      http://thebs413.blogspot.com
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