[Solved] Where to put shared data ?

Lone_Wolf · 2026-01-03 11:58:48

In a few days I'll get a new workstation pc and am considering what changes to make to my partition setup.

On my current setup there's a data partition mounted as /data that has 2 purposes :
- stuff that needs to be accessible by multiple users (local package repo, chroots)
- stuff that takes up a lot of space

For both tasks write access for specific groups/users is needed.
I'd prefer to have less folders in / and /srv appears to be suitable.

What do you feel is better ?

Last edited by Lone_Wolf (2026-01-09 23:10:34)

cryptearth · 2026-01-03 12:30:08

well - given zfs usually does the same for a pool with default options as a zfs user myself i don't see nothin wrong with that
aside maybe storing shared data on a nas and using fast network - but i guess there's a reason for have the storage local to the workstation

Allan · 2026-01-03 13:08:33

I tend to either put directories in /, or in /home/. e.g. /home/arch/ used to contain everything related to packaging (git repos, chroots).

ReDress · 2026-01-03 16:01:48

The bug is very cumbersome. I will be letting it go :-)

cryptearth · 2026-01-03 22:14:12

Allan wrote:

or in /home

well - iirc there was a topic about using a folder in /home based on group permissions for shared data - it had various pros and cons but i can't remember if this got a "final" answer

seth · 2026-01-03 22:47:25

There's nothing special about /home - it's 755 like / or /srv ?
The special aspects would be that it's typically used for /home/$USER as $HOME (so sou're somewhat blocking $USER names) and (probably more relevant) that it's often not the / root partition (and significantly larger)

If you want to allow users to share data with others (and w/o ACLs) I'd go w/ bind-mounts out of their $HOME into some public path - allowing the user full control, restricting everyone else to read-only and the user can refine that via the GID
You'd have /srv typically used for data that's meant to leave the system, but if this is a strictly local host that doesn't run any server services and /srv is just an empty dir, I'd not see any reason not to use that as local server path.

@ReDress, did you reply to the wrong thread?

Lone_Wolf · 2026-01-04 11:38:49

I'll definitely use bind mounts and/or ACLs but since https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=299394 I've become wary of opening /home/$USER to others.

/home/not-a-user/ though seems reasonable.

Some of the contents are shared with public systems, but contact is always initiated from the workstation.

Succulent of your garden · 2026-01-04 15:08:00

not sure if ACL can be used with network block devices https://github.com/NetworkBlockDevice/nbd/ but maybe if its possible then it could be an option.

In that case you can put a big hard drive disk into the work station and make it available as a network block device ? and grant the permissions with ACL for the users ? Not sure if both can work together to be honest but hey, maybe that could make you not spend money in the nas chest

ReDress · 2026-01-09 16:52:37

Succulent of your garden wrote:

not sure if ACL can be used with network block devices https://github.com/NetworkBlockDevice/nbd/ but maybe if its possible then it could be an option.
In that case you can put a big hard drive disk into the work station and make it available as a network block device ? and grant the permissions with ACL for the users ? Not sure if both can work together to be honest but hey, maybe that could make you not spend money in the nas chest

DO Not. Own my threads

Lone_Wolf · 2026-01-09 23:10:13

I've been busy converting my install to the new workstation and decided I prefer separation between things, so am keeping /data .

Arch Linux

#1 2026-01-03 11:58:48

[Solved] Where to put shared data ?

#2 2026-01-03 12:30:08

Re: [Solved] Where to put shared data ?

#3 2026-01-03 13:08:33

Re: [Solved] Where to put shared data ?

#4 2026-01-03 16:01:48

Re: [Solved] Where to put shared data ?

#5 2026-01-03 22:14:12

Re: [Solved] Where to put shared data ?

#6 2026-01-03 22:47:25

Re: [Solved] Where to put shared data ?

#7 2026-01-04 11:38:49

Re: [Solved] Where to put shared data ?

#8 2026-01-04 15:08:00

Re: [Solved] Where to put shared data ?

#9 2026-01-09 16:52:37

Re: [Solved] Where to put shared data ?

#10 2026-01-09 23:10:13

Re: [Solved] Where to put shared data ?

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