Ideas for 4.2: global configuration

[Biju Chacko]

On Sat, 29 Nov 2003 12:39:57 +0100, Jasper Huijsmans wrote:

> So, the first idea I want to propose is about global configuration.
> 
> I think all configuration should have a system config file. This will
> allow system administrators to create a custom default for all their
> users. This should include settings manager plugins.
> 
> This should be really easy to do (even for someone without intimate
> knowledge of the code. hint, hint ;-). Some plugins and programs already
> do this, but not all I think.

Can we just post bug reports for modules without support for a system-global
config file? That will make it easier to track the status.

I think we should have an easy way to do global config ie one that doesn't
involve editing text files. I propose that root preferences == system
preferences. Basically, if you XFce as root, whatever settings you choose should
apply globally.

Another important thing (IMHO) is to start using the base directory spec to
locate config files, themes and other data.

http://www.freedesktop.org/Standards/basedir-spec


> Related to this is to allow locking down of the configuration. I tried
> using the XFCE_DISABLE_USER_CONFIG variable for this, but currently the
> panel crashes when you set it (related to icon themes). Perhaps this
> could better be done using a system config file or simply the existence
> of a file ${sysconfdir}/xfce4/disable_user_config. 
> 
> It would be nice to support this I think. Allowing specific things to be
> locked down would require quite a bit of work but an initial
> all-or-nothing approach should not be too hard (don't popup the settings
> dialog, disable related menu items and only read system config files).

I think we should follow the same approach for this: file bug reports for
modules that do not support this.

-- b


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Biju Chacko             http://in.redhat.com                 Red Hat Inc