global or shared gnome configuration

[Vincent <vs null net>]

Hi.

Is there a way to create a global gnome configuration.  I would like
to have a default panel configuration for all user accounts and/or be
able to copy the .gnome* files to another users home directory or to
the /etc/skel directory for default configuration on new user
accounts.  When I copy them to another home directory most of the
buttons are missing from the panel.

At least part of the problem seems to be that Gnome hard codes some of
the paths for the particular user.  For example, in
~/.gnome/panel.d/default/Applet_Config, the paths are absolute for the
user they were created under.
ie. (in this case, root)

[Applet_3]
id=Launcher
parameters=/root/.gnome//panel.d/default/Applet_3.desktop
position=258
panel=1
right_stick=true


I have not been able to find anything in the docs or faqs about this.

I am running gnome-core-1.0.54 under Linux i386.