GConf Configuration Sources (GNOME 2.0 Desktop for the Solaris Operating Environment System Administration Guide)

GNOME 2.0 Desktop for the Solaris Operating Environment System Administration Guide

GConf Configuration Sources

The GConf repository contains a series of storage locations that are called configuration sources. The configuration sources are listed in the GConf path file. The location of the GConf path file is /etc/gconf/version-number/path. Each user has a path file. Each line in the path file specifies the following information:

The backend module to use to read the repository.
The permissions on the repository.
The location of the repository.

By default, the contents of the GConf path file are as follows:

xml:readonly:/etc/gconf/gconf.xml.mandatory
include "$(HOME)/.gconf.path"
xml:readwrite:$(HOME)/.gconf
xml:readonly:/etc/gconf/gconf.xml.defaults

When GConf searches for a preference value, GConf reads the configuration sources in the order specified in the path file. The following table describes the configuration sources in the path file:

Configuration Source	Description
Mandatory	The permissions on this configuration source are set to read only. Users cannot overwrite the values in this source, so the preferences in the source are mandatory.
User	This configuration source is stored in the `.gconf` directory in the home directory of the user. When the user sets a preference, the new preference information is added to this location.
Default	This configuration source contains the default preference settings.

The sequence of the configuration sources in the path file ensures that mandatory preference settings override user preference settings. The sequence also ensures that user preference settings override default preference settings. That is, GConf applies preferences in the following order of priority:

Mandatory preferences
User-specified preferences
Default preferences

The include instruction in the GConf path file enables users to use another configuration source. To use another configuration source, the user must specify the location of the configuration source. The user specifies the location of the configuration source in the home directory, in a file that is called .gconf.path.