Re: Solution for OEMs/Gnome

[Shaun McCance <shaunm gnome org>]

On Thu, 2006-04-13 at 09:45 +0100, Daniel Carrera wrote:
> Chipzz wrote:
> >>For .gconf you should prefer root's gconf database (but I still see a
> >>problem, that such customization is overwritten by a subsequent packages
> >>update, at least with the default gconf path).
> > 
> > It should be pointed out that for debian (and I think also ubuntu, which
> > is what he is using) this is simply not true. The gnome defaults are
> > shipped in /usr, not in /etc, and gconf actually uses multiple databases
> > on debian which allows you to do exactly that: make your own changes
> > without them being overwritten on subsequent upgrades.
> 
> Thanks.
> 
> Once again, unless someone has written a document describing how to 
> change the Gconf database (and perhaps something about how that database 
> works) this is all of little use to me.
> 
> * Please don't tell me "edit the .schema file" (which one? how? those 
> things are incomprehensible - yes, I know XML).
> 
> * Please don't tell me "do it wit gconf-editor" (gconf-editor does *not* 
> have any way of adding a stupid icon to the panel).
> 
> * Please don't tell me "copy the config files from xyz" (what use is 
> that if I can't edit the config files in the first place?)

I see that you've already found Sabayon to be a good
solution, but just for information's sake:

Using gconf-editor is a reasonably good way to create
default and mandatory settings for simple configuration
options.  For example, if you want to set whether the
trash icon is visible on users' desktops, you would
open the Defaults window and toggle the checkbox for
/apps/nautilus/desktop/trash_icon_visible.

So everybody around here gets really proud of how easy
this is, and they run around screaming about how easy
it is to set defaults for everything with GConf.  The
problem is that the panel uses a fairly complex layout
of dynamically-created keys and directories of keys.

gconf-editor will allow you to create new keys, but it
can't create new directories of keys.  (Not because of
any technical limitation; it's really just a design
oversight. [1])  So gconf-editor just isn't powerful
enough.  Even if it were, figuring out the panel's
complex dynamic key layout to make the changes isn't
a trivial task.

For things like the panel layout, mucking around with
the actual keys just isn't going to be fun, whether
you use gconf-editor, gconftool-2, or emacs.  In this
particular case, the keys themselves are too confusing
for mortals.  And that's why Sabayon is so great: you
get to set the default settings the same way you'd set
up your own desktop.

----
[1] Technically directories don't really exist.  The
key paths are more like namespaces, so it just doesn't
make sense in GConf to have "directories" without keys.
But that shouldn't stop gconf-editor from being able to
create new keys with new paths/namespaces.

--
Shaun