[Discuss] can one safely login multiple times to the same user on a modern Linux desktop?

[gaf at blu.org (Jerry Feldman)]

On 09/03/2012 02:14 PM, Edward Ned Harvey (blu) wrote:
>> From: discuss-bounces+blu=nedharvey.com at blu.org [mailto:discuss-
>> bounces+blu=nedharvey.com at blu.org] On Behalf Of Bill Bogstad
>>
>> I frequently like to set things up so that I can simultaneously log into
>> the same desktop configuration from multiple workstations.   It's fairly
>> easy to set up file access (NFS) and authentication (LDAP or NIS) to allow
>> logins and access to the same home directory.   Unfortunately, my
>> experience in the past has been that modern Linux desktop system keep
>> enough state in ones home directory that having two logins using the same
>> set of configuration/state files at the same time is going to result in odd
>> behavior.
>>
>> Does anybody know if any version of GNOME, KDE, or equivalent system
>> actively support such usage?
> Nothing supports behavior like that, but very few things seem to have *real* problems.  I frequently encounter users who have multiple VNC sessions to the same machine, and when I tell them they shouldn't do that, they most often say "Oh, I didn't know."
>
> Why don't you just create one session and reuse it?  For example, create a VNC session, and just keep connecting to the same VNC session from all your different clients?
We have the same situation. I generally use VNC to one host, then if I
need to access another host, simply open up an ssh window. I also run
vncconfig so I can easily copy/paste to my Windows 7 workstation, so I
don't run Firefox in VNC.

-- 
Jerry Feldman <gaf at blu.org>
Boston Linux and Unix
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