[TriLUG] Common home directory

[Scott G. Hall]

I would like to enlist your opinions here.  What files or directories
would you consider safe for sharing across disparate linux, unix, and
other {a-hem, MS} environments?  I am trying to properly map across
RedHat, Ubuntu, SuSE, Solaris, Knoppix, Mandriva, FreeBSD, UnixWare,
WinXP, Vista, and so on, each using different GUI environments and
window managers, different productivity software, and browser and email
programs (though Firefox and Thunderbird predominate).  I want updates
done while logged in one environment to be reflected instantly when
the user logs into another environment in the same local network.
But I want to do this with a minimum of mounted directories and mapped
drives per user -- you can see how just 4 users can become a big
nightmare.

There are the obvious:
Documents (for example /home/$USER/Documents and
C:\Documents and Settings\{%USER%}\My Documents)

Mail (for example /home/$USER/Mail, /home/$USER/Inbox, /home/$USER/MBOX
and C:\Documents and Settings\{%USER%}\My Documents\My Mail)

and others like: Projects, Music, Pictures, etc.

These type of things can be carried as one big directory per user and
sym-linked all day to fit the various mappings.  Even with Cygwin usage
the following files can also be in the same big directory:

.bashrc, .cshrc, .profile, .kshrc, .exrc, .emacsrc, .Xdefaults, etc.

The problem I am facing is the directories and files that when shared
across environments are clobbering or killing various things.  Like
the Desktop directory, Firefox history, cookies, bookmarks, options
& settings, Thunderbird account settings & options, ssh knownhosts,
and so on.

I want to commonize as many application files and settings, and
environment files and settings (.gnome*, .kde*, .java*, .mozilla*)
as possible across environments, and even the MS Windows barrier
(C:\Documents and Settings\{%USER%}\Application Data\).  And do it
in such a way that when an application updates something, it doesn't
just wipe out a sym-link and create a local file or directory.

Thoughts, opinions, approaches, and best practices are fully welcome.

-- 
Scott G. Hall
Raleigh, NC, USA
ScottGHall at BellSouth.Net