Re: [Nautilus-list] preferences

[Ramiro Estrugo <ramiro fateware com>]

Maciej Stachowiak wrote:
> 
> It used to be we stored different values per user level and not just
> different defaults per user level. I bet much of what you see is
> relics of that era which did not get cleaned up.
> 

Yes, that used to be the case.  We changed the user level design many
many times.  In this case though, its not cruft.  Its simple that in
order to satisfy:

1) A preference has the same changeable value at all the user levels at
which it is visible.
2) A preference has a fixed non changeable value at all the user levels
at which it is not visible.

We need to store between 0 and 2 default values for X and Y user levels,
where X is the visible user level and Y is an optional higher user
level.

Part of the complication is that this information is stored in gconf,
because gconf happens to be a convenient system for storing stuff.  I
freely admit that perhaps that was not the best way to do it.  Since
there already is a table inside each nautilus process with preference
descriptions, filters and other info, perhaps the default values and
visibilities should be stored there as well.

> Wouldn't blowing away the visibility stuff make all settings visible
> at all user levels? That would be tantamount to removing the user
> level feature entirely. If there were good usability reasons to do
> that sure, but I don't think purity of the gconf database is a good
> enough reason.

Yes, but maybe for the sake of simplicity it has to happen.  We never
really proved or disproved that the user level system is ideal.  I wish
I had a better answer, but I honestly don't know.  Im torn between the
tangible benefit of allowing for contradictory missions of being cool
for both beginners and hackers and simplicity/maintainablility of the
code.

About the violation of sysadmins rights:  I admit that the current
system in Nautilus is not sysadmin friendly.  It had zero bearing in the
design.  Maybe it is not an important feature to me, but in reality,
given the real  market of Linux and Unix users, it is indeed a really
important consideration.

> 
> But I for one would love to see any cleanup of the prefs code that
> maintains the current feature set.
> 
>  - Maciej

The gross innefeciencies are not hard to fix.

-re