Re: Brainstorm: Desktop

[David Faure <David Faure ifhamy insa-lyon fr>]

On Mon, Apr 06, 1998 at 03:07:55PM -0700, Derek Simkowiak wrote:
> > > 	Comments? Does KDE have anything like this?
> 
> > Yes, KDE has it as you described in your proposal.

> 
> So the next natural question is: can we use the existing KDE setup?  Or is
> there something KDE or qt specific that would make it inappropriate for
> us? 

Ok. The existing KDE setup is :
* there is, in each user's home directory :
.kde
.kde/share
.kde/share/config      - contains config files ("<appname>rc")
.kde/share/apps        - contains more specific stuff for some apps
.kde/share/apps/kfm    - such as the file browser
.kde/share/apps/kfm/cache
.kde/share/apps/kfm/tmp
.kde/share/apps/kfm/bookmarks
.kde/share/apps/kdehelp - and the help reader
.kde/share/icons       - user's personal icons
.kde/share/icons/mini  - and mini icons
.kde/share/applnk      - and links for apps
.kde/share/applnk/apps
.kde/share/applnk/apps/Editors
.kde/share/mimelnk     - and mimetypes

The file ~/.kde/share/config/kfmrc contains :
# KDE Config File
[Paths]
Trash=/home/dfaure/Desktop/Trash/      - the Trash, on the Desktop.
Desktop=/home/dfaure/Desktop/          - the Desktop dir, with
                                         anything on the desktop
Templates=/home/dfaure/Templates/      - for new files
Autostart=/home/dfaure/Autostart/      - apps started when kfm is started.
<snip>

Personnaly, I prefer the following configuration :
# KDE Config File
[Paths]
Trash=/home/dfaure/.kde/Desktop/Trash/ - Trash on the Desktop, as
                           anybody does with his computer but never really :)
Desktop=/home/dfaure/.kde/Desktop/     - the Desktop is hidden from ~
Templates=/home/dfaure/.kde/Templates/ - same for Templates, and
                                                they're not on the Desktop
Autostart=/home/dfaure/.kde/Autostart/ - Autostart isn't on the
                                                  Desktop neither
<snip>

So, if Gnome can use the same it's a very good thing. I mean, not
hardcoding any path but letting the user change a config file.

Finally, the only KDE specific thing is its name :)... and the
configuration file format, ok.

~/.kde is the KDE configuration, so why not gnome come with a ~/.gnome
directory containing configuration stuff, and refering to the same
common directories : Trash, Desktop, Templates, Autostart.
Somebody wanting to move its Desktop directory, like me, would just
have to update kfmrc and the gnome equivalent.

> As an aside, the fact that KDE has such a setup reinforces the idea that a
> similar setup would be good for GNOME.
Agreed.

Comments ?

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