Re: Global Desktop Items: A proposal

["Sayamindu Dasgupta" <sayamindu randomink org>]

On 4/18/07, Mark <markg85 gmail com> wrote:
> hmm.. the idea is good although i would do it slightly different.
> i would leave gconf out of it.
>
> this is how i would do it:
> take a global nautilus directory
> (/etc/nautilus/default_desktop_icons/ where
> all the .desktop files are in which will be shown for all users. than
> give every single user a hidden directory of it`s own, lets
> say ~/.default_desktop_icons/ in which you place the
> user specific icons.
>
> Using the "registry" (gconf) can`t do it in my taste because you will need
> to add keys AND .desktop files.. with this alternative solution you only
> need to
> create desktop files.

Let us go back to Dinosaur Park example.
Let us assume that recently some researchers have disappeared while
doing field work, and some of the dinosaurs seem to be missing as
well. The park authorities have brought in a number of investigators
(Men in Green) to figure out what is happening, and Carlos has to
setup their desktops as well. Apart from the wiki link, Carlos also
has to put in a launcher for the web based super cool application
which lets the Men in Green watch everything that is going on in the
park from their browsers.
Of course, this new launcher should not be there for the Researcher
Desktops. It is here that the gconf key comes into play - the gconf
key would be set to /foo/resdesktop for the researchers, and /foo/mig
for the Men in Green. So you have a semi-global kind of desktop
launcher sets, which are applicable in a per profile basis (I am
thinking in terms of Sabayon here actually :-).

So, if an organisation has different classes of user, using this Gconf
key, one can predefine different read only launchers for each class.

Cheers,
Sayamindu

--
Sayamindu Dasgupta
[http://sayamindu.randomink.org/ramblings]