wine users - Nov 2008 - multiple users on LINUX - way to share a single .wine

Basically, I'd like to have just one .wine dir on my file system that
multiple users on LINUX can share thus allowing me to keep a single install of
my windows apps.  The default is to install to /home/CURRENT_USER/.wine so
I'm wondering, as long as the LINUX users are in the same group, can I
relocate the .wine dir to say, /home/share/.wine and update the wineconfig?  I
just started using LINUX seriously so I'm pretty new at it.

Thanks for the replies.

Yes and No

most people will say that its not possible because wine cant be running
simultaneously for more than one user at any given time (remember linux, were
build as a terminal workstation, meaning that more than one user could be loged
at any given time) otherwise you risk frying your (wine) registry which will
result that nothing will be running anymore - and im sure you dont want that ;P

and yes you can do it, as far as i can see it, if you're absolutely sure,
that one user will be loged at any given moment  at wine. no one has ever tried
to do anything like that - but if you search the forums here , you'll see
that many have attempted to do it. maybe you can find more info from their posts

graysky wrote:
> Basically, I'd like to have just one .wine dir on my file system that
multiple users on LINUX can share thus allowing me to keep a single install of
my windows apps.  The default is to install to /home/CURRENT_USER/.wine so
I'm wondering, as long as the LINUX users are in the same group, can I
relocate the .wine dir to say, /home/share/.wine and update the wineconfig?  I
just started using LINUX seriously so I'm pretty new at it.
>
>
>   
You can try a symbolic link.
ln -s /home/share/.wine ~/.wine

Just have a try :)

Cai wrote:
> You can try a symbolic link.
> ln -s /home/share/.wine ~/.wine
> 
> Just have a try :)
"Brilliant" but dead wrong. Obviously you have no clue what you
suggesting.

graysky ??:
> Basically, I'd like to have just one .wine dir on my file system that
multiple users on LINUX can share thus allowing me to keep a single install of
my windows apps.  The default is to install to /home/CURRENT_USER/.wine so
I'm wondering, as long as the LINUX users are in the same group, can I
relocate the .wine dir to say, /home/share/.wine and update the wineconfig?  I
just started using LINUX seriously so I'm pretty new at it.
>
> Thanks for the replies.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>   
Share files under Linux is easy. The symbolic link file is the best.

> Share files under Linux is easy. The symbolic link file is the best.

It is true in the world of Linux but not so good with Wine.
And Vitamin is true, but not subtle.

It has been talked in details already. For example  :
http://forum.winehq.org/viewtopic.php?t=2612

Read the conversation and don't jump on the link to the ubuntu forums
directly.

If the WINEPREFIX cannot be shared. The 'Program files' directory might
be shared. Also the wine's *.dll stub.

Cai wrote:
> If the WINEPREFIX cannot be shared. The 'Program files' directory
might
> be shared. Also the wine's *.dll stub.

"Program files" can be shared, but as you don't share the registry
applications might not like this and generate obscure crashes.

Cai wrote:
> Then export the .reg file and import to the other users'. OK, that
might works.

Each time you install/uninstall something or change it's configuration (to
keep syncronized)....
Also the program may have put dlls (or other files) in other folders that you
might forget (or no be able) to share.
And as the "My document" folder is in the user's home, you have to
change the registry to put it in a shared place.

That's a lot of work for not so much I think.

Cai wrote:
> If you cannot come up with a better idea, then don't
> write any thing!

You should apply that to yourself. If you do not know answer DO NOT give it to
users. Ether say you don't know, or don't respond at all.

The worst answer is the wrong answer that you give to someone who asked you for
help.

Gert van den Berg <wine-users at mohag.net> at Nov 7, 2008 10:13 AM wrote
about [Wine] multiple users on LINUX - way to share a single
.wine
>
>2008/11/7 Cai <microcai at sina.com>:
>> graysky ??:
>>> Basically, I'd like to have just one .wine dir on my file
system that multiple users on LINUX can share thus allowing me to keep a single
install of my windows apps.  The default is to install to
/home/CURRENT_USER/.wine so I'm wondering, as long as the LINUX users are in
the same group, can I relocate the .wine dir to say, /home/share/.wine and
update the wineconfig?  I just started using LINUX seriously so I'm pretty
new at it.
>>>
>>> Thanks for the replies.
>> Share files under Linux is easy. The symbolic link file is the best.
>>
>which does not take into account race conditions and permission problems...
>
>mount --bind might work around some of those, but probably not the
>registry and race conditions issues...
>
>And Vitamin knows what he is talking about...
>
He may be abrupt, but he is correct.
>The safest method is probably to have a dedicated user account where
>wine is set up, a script to copy in to each user's home directory, (If
>wine does not use the user name in the registry somewhere...) change
>the permissions and run wine. Environment variables can be used to
>save the profile data somewhere where it will be persistent, and may,
>combined with cron even sync it. (Depending on how Wine handles
>locking it might be okay to share the whole drive_c without race
>conditions that is not present on Windows (I'm not familiar with file
>locking under *nix))
This does not avoid the multiple users accessing the same file and causing file
corruption.  This would require the use of file flagging and other file handing
processes.

The real question is why do you want only one .wine directory?  It is possible
to install a program multiple times under Linux and then redirect a user to a
particular installation on a shared drive.  I'm under the assumption that
licensing issues are at the root of this issue and Wine should not be used to
circumvent them.  If the issue is something else then explain why this is
needed.  It may be necessary to submit a bug report.  Please keep in mind that
this may not be implemented for a long time if ever.

James McKenzie

Forgot to change from address...


---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Gert van den Berg <gert at mohag.net>
Date: Fri, Nov 7, 2008 at 9:03 PM
Subject: Re: [Wine] multiple users on LINUX - way to share a single .wine
To: James Mckenzie <jjmckenzie51 at earthlink.net>
Cc: wine-users at winehq.org


On Fri, Nov 7, 2008 at 8:05 PM, James Mckenzie
<jjmckenzie51 at earthlink.net> wrote:
> The real question is why do you want only one .wine directory?  It is
possible to install a program multiple times under Linux and then redirect a
user to a particular installation on a shared drive.  I'm under the
assumption that licensing issues are at the root of this issue and Wine should
not be used to circumvent them.  If the issue is something else then explain why
this is needed.  It may be necessary to submit a bug report.  Please keep in
mind that this may not be implemented for a long time if ever.
I can see how this can be useful in a multi-user environment where
users have limited privileges... (Corporate, internet cafe, etc) An
administrator installs Wine with all relevant applications, shares it,
user runs application with settings saved in HKCU and his/her own home
directory... This also allows for centralized updates, etc.

I only have a use for "Documents and settings" equivalent that is
shared between prefixes.... (I install almost every program in a
seperate WINEPREFIX and it would be useful to have a easy way to have
a separate, shared settings location for easy backups, etc...)
(something like ~/.wine-profiles or ~/wine-profiles)

The Desktop, My Documents and Start Menu is nicely integrated at the moment...

Gert

Theoretically speaking: (do not consider this a guide)
If I were to emulate what Windows works like, I'd probably have:
a) One user who owns the global wineprefix and everything inside it is only
writable by this user (except userdir inside the "documents and
settings" equivalent)
b) Each other user has their own wineprefixes (owner the other user, possibly
created by some setuid script) which have dosdevices and drive_c mount binded to
ones in global wineprefix folders and system.reg hardlinked to the global
system.reg. Users would have their own user.reg and userdef.reg.
c) Some means of making sure only one user at a time can start Wine as the user
who owns wineprefix. Program installation would usually require changing uid to
that other user and running program installer.
If registry files are separated so that system.reg contains *only* global keys
that users aren't supposed to modify, it might work. Quite a lot of work
though, you'd probably get by easier by just buying a Windows.
Still note this is highly speculative and theoretical and probably will not work
as is. :)
(Someone could fork a project for that kind of stuff though if they happen to
have enough scientific curiosity)