The reason is that different linux distributions have different packaging
systems, and if you let them install/uninstall programs from the same /usr
tree you'll have one heck of a mess. In any case, trying make them share
things other than /usr/local is pretty difficult. Even your /home may run
into trouble if the userid's are not coordinated across your /etc/passwd
files in the two distribs.
It's just not a pretty sight. First trying one distrib and then
installing another over it, keeping only /usr/local, /home, /etc, would
sound like a possible plan, but still not that great. (It's what I'd
probably have to do if I someday become crazy and want to switch to RH.)
On Fri, 26 Feb 1999, jeremy hetzler wrote:
> I'm building a computer, and I want to partition the 10GB drive for
> multi-boot among Win98 (Office and games), Slackware, and RedHat.
> I've read all the HOW-TOs, but am still a little confused about the
> best way to partition the disk and install the OSes. Do I need three
> boot partitions under 1024 cylinders? How much space will each OS take
> up? Can I usefully share some directories (Netscape, say) between Linux
> distributions, or should I plan to install and configure even large
> applications twice? Should I install Windows first? Last? Which FDISK
> should I use to carve up the space?
> I'd like to boot from LILO, if possible, and avoid LOADLIN.
>
> Thanks in advance,
> Jeremy
>
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-- # Ken Lai <min-ken.lai@yale.edu> also at ken.lai@WriteMe.com # http://pantheon.yale.edu/~ml267/ ICQ# 5845632