Re: gnome configuration

[Robert Bihlmeyer <robbe orcus priv at>]

Hi,

>>>>> On 23 Mar 1999 15:27:49 -0500
>>>>> Sam Steingold <sds@goems.com> said:

 Sam> 1. menu-based configuration is OKay, but apparently it is not
 Sam>    "well saved". when my window manager crashes, the gnome pager
 Sam>    exits. When I restart WM, I have to reconfigure the pager.
 Sam>    what **FILE** do these settings go to anyway?

Calling "save-session" should checkpoint this stuff. Finding the right 
file for applets is kinda difficult. First, the panel saves to
different directories for different sessions; second, the files are
named "Applet_*_Extern". So resort to grep.

The second problem is actually curable: why not name the "Applet_*"
files after the applet's real name, not their number? I don't think
this would involve much effort, and it'd help manual fixing a lot.

 Sam> 2. a look at my home directory almost gave me a heart attack!

I, too, hate programs that clutter my $HOME.

 Sam> - an *EMPTY* directory "~/.gnome_private",

Thats thought for stuff that should be protected from sneaky eyes.
Hence, it is mode 700, while .gnome is 755.

 Sam> - ~/.gnome-desktop, which is (apparently) created by gmc
 Sam>    and which, again, I do not want (no, I do **NOT** want these
 Sam>    stupid icons on my desktop!)

Empyting (but not deleting) it gets rid of the icons. But I'd rather
have gmc create the directory exactly once. Ok, and give newbies a
"Recreate desktop" menu item.

 Sam> - ~/.gnome-help-browser - why isn't it ~/.gnome/help-broser?

Second that request.

 Sam> - ~/gnome, with files, inter alia: [...]

That are session management droppings. Should get deleted after use,
but if something dies ... Setting SM_SAVE_DIR will put them into
another directory, if you prefer. A cronjob containing
"find $SM_SAVE_DIR -atime +7 | xargs rm -f" is recommended.
        
 Sam> 3. gmc would have been quite useful if it didn't crash so often
 Sam>    and if I could make it lauch gnuclient instead of emacs.

Start "gnomecc" (you didn't list control-center with your installed
packages, so perhaps you must install it first). Select "Gnome Edit
Properties" and put "gnuclient" into the "Gnome Editor" field.

Alternatively, edit ".gnome/editor".

 Sam>    Also, I see no reason to require me to confirm exit *twice*.

Yeah, that's boring. Perhaps gmc should close its windows first, then
popup a dialog asking, "terminate desktop handler, too?". Newbies that 
intended to remove only the file-managing part, would click "No" here.

        Robbe

-- 
Robert Bihlmeyer	reads: Deutsch, English, MIME, Latin-1, NO SPAM!
<robbe@orcus.priv.at>	<http://stud2.tuwien.ac.at/~e9426626/sig.html>