Requirements and pre-analysis for a cross desktop configuration infrastructure

[cobaco (aka Bart Cornelis)]

On Thursday 10 March 2005 21:15, Philip Van Hoof wrote:
> Hi there,
> Requirements

> The backend  needs to support default settings which are stored on a for
> the users  read-only  location. For  example: the  user  settings go  in
> $HOME/.dconf/ and the defaults go in /etc/dconf/default/.

it needs more then that: 
- it needs what kde calls 'cascading configuration', i.e. multiple 
configuration sets that can be stacked, and activated conditionally (say 
one set of configuration for admins, one for management, and one for 
ordinary office workers, stacked on top of common base-settings)

-> the basedir spec provides for the stacking

merging of the different configuration sets should with be done with a 
granularity of individual settings (not config files). And ideally there 
should be a mechanism to mark settings as can't be changed by user (similar 
to kde kiosk system)

NOTE: gconf supports the above though somewhat hackisly:
- for the conditional activation of what gnome calls 'configuration sources' 
you need to generate a path file on login AFAIK, which I find rather ugly
- any locking of settings needs to be done by splitting out the locked 
settings into a separate 'configuration source', which needs to be 
carefully ordered in the path file to be looked at before the user 
settings, which makes it a pain to switch things from mandatory to 'may be 
changed'
-- 
cobaco (aka Bart Cornelis):
    Coördinator Belgisch Skolelinux team
    Coördinator Nederlandse Skolelinux vertaling
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