Re: panel configuration (was: Helix user login)

["Kevin D. Knerr, Sr." <kknerrsr ptdprolog net>]

On 31 Aug, marco antonio cabazal wrote:
> # last 2000-08-30 (12:19 -0400), Sean Murphy <murphy@erim-int.com> 
>   mentioned something about Re: Helix user login ?
> 
> | Try deleting your .gnome directories and let Gnome recreate them.
> | You'll lose all the fun little customizations you had, but it'll fix
> | your icons.  I've had to do it on both machines I run.  Luckily, I
> | didn't customize my panel too much at that point, so it didn't take long
> | to put the applets back where I had 'em.

I guess I have a couple of FAQ candidates here, Telsa . . . ;-)

How do I restore GNOME's defualt configuration?

The easiest way is to delete your ~/.gnome directory. The next time you
start GNOME, the directory and all its entries will be recreated for
you. However, since you will lose *all* of your customizations, perhaps
it's a better idea to simply *rename* the directory instead. GNOME will
still recreate ~/.gnome from its defaults, but you will have your old
customizations available for reference.

>   where are the panel customization stored anyway? a guess would be in
>   ~/.gnome but where exactly. i tried opening up some of the files there
>   but they include things which i took off way back already. also,
>   something that interests me is ~/.gnome/panel.d/default. can someone
>   point me somewhere where i can find more info about this?

How does GNOME store its panel/applet configuration?

The panel configuration is stored under ~/.gnome/panel.d/default. The
file "panel" stores info about your panels and tear-off menus. The file
"Applet_Config" maps the individual applet configuration files to the
correct panel and position on the panel. If the applet has an id of
"Extern" or "Launcher", there is an additional file named
Applet_n_Extern or Applet_n.desktop which contains the applet-specific
configuration.

There are several practial consequences of this scheme:

a) You cannot tell by the filename which Applet_n file contains the data
for any given applet--you have to check via Applet_Config or by
examining the contents.

b) If you remove (or lose due to a crash) an applet, when you add the
applet to the panel again, you will have to reconfigure everything for
that applet from scratch, unless the applet stores it own configuration
data separately. (If you can find a copy of the original Applet_n file,
you can also manually edit the contents of the new Applet_n file--but
there is an eaisier way. See the FAQ, "How can I save/restore a given
panel configuration?")

c) If you exit GNOME improperly (e.g. X server lockup) you will find
multiple instances of Applet_n files. Some will be duplicates except for
the name. Others will be pairs consisting of Applet_n_Extern and
Applet_n.desktop. (As a rule of thumb, only the most current files will
be correct--and they should have the same timestamp as Applet_Config and
panel--the rest are cruft that will *never* be deleted on their own,
although they may be overwritten in a future session.)

How can I save/restore a given panel configuration?

The easiest way is to make a tarball of a configuration you wish to
save. Do the following:

cd ~/.gnome/panel.d
tar -cvzf my_panel.tar.gz default

Now when you wish to restore that configuration, just do the following:

cd ~/.gnome/panel.d
/bin/rm -rf default   *OR* /bin/mv default default-
tar xvf my_panel.tar.gz

Obviously, you don't need to call your tarball my_panel nor do you need
to use gzip. Personally, I prefer to use default-yymmdd.tar.bz2 and keep
an incremental set of configurations available.

HTH

Barthel
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