Question about Dual boot Linux on one box

[Lian Liming]

Hi all,
    I have a box with a pre-installed gentoo system. Since that system 
is installed by my friend and we share the same box,  i can't destroy 
it. I'd like to use Debian system. So i am thinking about two boot linux 
system -- Gentoo && Debian -- working on the same box.
    There are several questions that i am quite confused as following:

    1) the partitions.
        The pre-installed gentoo system has the following partitions:
              /dev/hda1 mount at /boot
              /dev/hda2 mount at swap
              /dev/hda3 mount  at /
              /dev/hda4 mount  at /home
              /dev/hda5 mount  at /var/www
        and there is another partition /dev/hda6 has no filesystem on it.
       
        My questions about partitions is that, to install debian system 
on it. Is it possible to share /boot, /home, /var/www with the gentoo 
system? The advantage doing this is that we can share the information 
better. If we share /home, then i can have accounts on both Gentoo and 
Debian system. And the two accounts on both system share the same 
directory, i don't need have two copy of my personal datas.

        Another further and *crazy* question is that : can i share "/" 
partition with Gentoo && Debian? I know that   they are all linux system 
with similar filesystem structure, but Gentoo and Debian have their 
different features, for example, Gentoo has a way to hold its portages 
system. To share the "/" really sounds crazy, but i just wonder is it 
possible? Maybe someone else has tried on this.
       
 
   2) the boot loader program
       I am not familiar with the boot loader on Linux so this is 
another question that confused me so much.
       The pre-installed Gentoo has installed "Grub" and the boot 
loader is installed on mbr. So if i install debian, Should i installed 
another boot loader such as Grub or lilo?
       Or is it possible that i don't install boot loader on debian , 
and just use the "grub" on the Gentoo, add some entries to the grub 
config file so that i can select debian on the system boot?

   3) insteresting kernel question
       It is really an insteresting question, can i use the kernel 
compiling on the other system? For example, i compile a 2.6.9 kernel on 
Gentoo, and i just copy the binary kernel to Debian system and boot from 
the kernel on Debian. Actually, this question is not important. I am 
just interested on this topic.

     I am not a linux guru and sorry for my poor English, if i can't 
explain something clear, please think free to point it out.
    
      Thank you very much for any suggestion.
   

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