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More => Old Versions => JRiver Media Center 25 for Linux => Topic started by: geier22 on November 28, 2019, 05:08:20 pm

Title: Three systems - The same data directory for MC
Post by: geier22 on November 28, 2019, 05:08:20 pm
I have a triple-boot system (Debian Testing Xfce / KDE / Gnome).

I would like to access the same library data from all systems.
As far as I understand, these data are stored in ~ / .jriver / Media Center 25 /.

Is it possible with a symlink of all systems to access a central directory?

I do that with all data directories, as well as with all browsers and different programs.
So I always have equivalent data available and only need to backup once.

I have not dared to do that with Mediacenter.

Does something speak against it ?

Can problems arise?
Title: Re: Three systems - The same data directory for MC
Post by: Awesome Donkey on November 28, 2019, 05:13:18 pm
I suspect that won't work because of how licensing works in JRiver Media Center. It'd likely lose the license every time you opened the shared MC on a different Debian install.

I have to ask, why three different Debian installs for each desktop environment? You can install all the desktop environments under one install - I have both GNOME and KDE Plasma installed under Arch Linux (and had Cinnamon as well too previously), and they don't clash with each other at all and co-exist pretty well.
Title: Re: Three systems - The same data directory for MC
Post by: geier22 on November 29, 2019, 12:59:40 am
I suspect that won't work because of how licensing works in JRiver Media Center. It'd likely lose the license every time you opened the shared MC on a different Debian install.
Thanks for the answer. I had guessed that.
I have to ask, why three different Debian installs for each desktop environment? You can install all the desktop environments under one install - I have both GNOME and KDE Plasma installed under Arch Linux (and had Cinnamon as well too previously), and they don't clash with each other at all and co-exist pretty well.
The reason is simple: It has been my experience that it is not the case that the existence of different desktops in a system is always without problems. I have been using Xfce Debian Testing for 5 years. Xfce is extremely stable and is my production system. Neither KDE nor Gnome have this stability. Testing can sometimes cause problems that are difficult to solve with a mix of different desktops. Xfce runs into this time without a reinstall. Jessie -> Stretch -> Buster -> Bullseye. Neither KDE nor Gnome survived this period.
Title: Re: Three systems - The same data directory for MC
Post by: BryanC on November 29, 2019, 08:54:08 am
Thanks for the answer. I had guessed that.The reason is simple: It has been my experience that it is not the case that the existence of different desktops in a system is always without problems. I have been using Xfce Debian Testing for 5 years. Xfce is extremely stable and is my production system. Neither KDE nor Gnome have this stability. Testing can sometimes cause problems that are difficult to solve with a mix of different desktops. Xfce runs into this time without a reinstall. Jessie -> Stretch -> Buster -> Bullseye. Neither KDE nor Gnome survived this period.

You would be much better off using VMs. SPICE feels practically bare metal.
Title: Re: Three systems - The same data directory for MC
Post by: geier22 on November 29, 2019, 04:52:34 pm
You would be much better off using VMs. SPICE feels practically bare metal.
But the problem of shared data pool persists even with VMs - and the solution is much more complex than a symlink.
I have a lot of VMs. Eg several Windows VMs for different tasks.
But there are always only individual folders that I share with the host (VirtualBox).
Shared Folders of a Windows VM with a Linux host with KVM / Qemu are a horror.
Title: Re: Three systems - The same data directory for MC
Post by: BryanC on November 29, 2019, 08:19:55 pm
But the problem of shared data pool persists even with VMs - and the solution is much more complex than a symlink.
I have a lot of VMs. Eg several Windows VMs for different tasks.
But there are always only individual folders that I share with the host (VirtualBox).
Shared Folders of a Windows VM with a Linux host with KVM / Qemu are a horror.

You should be using CIFS/SMB. A single SMB server can be shared among many VMs.