HD permissions stay put

[Tom H]

On Sun, Jul 3, 2011 at 12:53 PM, Jordon Bedwell <jordon at envygeeks.com> wrote:
> On 03/07/11 10:49, Johan Scheepers wrote:
>>
>> I have a multiple boot internal drive (different linux
>> flavors)(excluding windows).
>>
>> Have a external usb drive for backup between these different systems.
>>
>> Now booting in a different flavor the permissions change to numbers.
>>
>> My normal permission is johan johan. I am the only user at home.
>>
>> It is auto boot if from boot or later.
>>
>> Now as root  I change the owner and group -R.
>>
>> This is annoying . Is there a way to make it stick please.
>
> Grab the UID and GID from the master machine and port them to the others
> Example ->
>
> Machine 1:
> cat /etc/passwd |grep ^johan
>
> Grab the UID and the GID (assuming  they are possibly different)
> Example output: johan:x:1000:1000:Johan,,,:/home/johan:/bin/bash
> 1000 is the number you want to grab, the second 1000 is the GID
>
> Machine 2:
> usermod -u [UID] johan
> groupmod -g [GID] johan

I wouldn't quite do that.

Since the OP emailed both the Fedora and Ubuntu lists, Johan's UID's
most probably 500 on Fedora and 1000 on Ubuntu. So before changing the
Ubuntu UID to 500, I'd check whether the 500-999 range on Ubuntu isn't
reserved for system accounts; if that range is reserved then it's the
Fedora UID that has to be changed.

Furthermore, I'd make that change while in single-user mode,
especially on Ubuntu where, if you haven't enabled root, you'll be
logged in as "johan" even if you run "sudo -i" and you won't be able
to change the UID.

You'll also have to chown the home dir of whichever johan whose uid you change.