On Tue, 15 Sep 2020 11:35:30 -0500
Michael via tde-users <ml-migration-agent@...> wrote:

> On Tuesday 15 September 2020 11:08:23 am Felmon Davis wrote:
> > On Tue, 15 Sep 2020, William Morder via tde-users wrote:
> > > Better not to give in to conspiracy-theory thinking here. I believe a
> > > simpler proportion is at work.
> >
> > there may be truth in some of this but it seems a bit like
> > thread-drift - perhaps retraction of apfelstr�del must be considered;
> > how does this relate to systemd-homed?
> >
> > it seems systemd-homed brings precisely the benefit which Kate
> > mentioned is lacking in our usual way of moving 'home'; she wrote:
> >
> > "I don't understand why this is even needed?! I can already move home
> > directories without a problem. Been doing it for years. I just make
> > sure to use the same user on the same distro, same etc. Works
> > perfectly. Or I save key settings (konq bookmarks, FF bms, etc) it's
> > so easy after that to just retheme to spec."
> >
> > I take it with systemd-homed one doesn't get trapped by shifting UIDs
> > and such. they write (partial quotation),
> >
> > "Linux assigns UIDs in the order usernames are registered on a
> > machine. you may get UID 1000 if you are the first user on a laptop
> > and you could get 1001 on another laptop if you are the second user to
> > be registered there. This poses a problem if you move a home directory
> > container from machine A where you're UID 1000 to machine B where you
> > are 1001. systemd-homed solves this by doing a chown -R on the entire
> > home directory if there is a conflict. [...]"
> >
> > I once fell athwart of that! not to mention that 'home' gets encrypted.
> >
> > why isn't this a net bonus?
> 
> Quote:
> "All user-specific records are stored within a JSON formatted file called 
> ~/.identity which is cryptographically signed with a key out of the users 
> control."
> 
> .."out of the users control"...
> Quote-End:
> 
> Welcome to Big Brother?
> 
> Seriously, homed says my data is not mine.  Worse, if homed borks, then I've 
> lost ALL my data.

The target audience here isn't home users, it's business and education
setups where the users are (understandably) not trusted by the sysadmin.
It's the businesses that pay Red Hat's bills, so naturally they cater to them.

It's unfortunate that some distros force solutions intended for enterprise 
environments down the throats of home users without stopping to think 
about whether it's a good idea, but that's the way of the world.  
(See also:  systemd itself, ldap, etc. etc. ad nauseum).

E. Liddell