Re: gnome (gconf) saga - please read

[Havoc Pennington <hp redhat com>]

"Timothy H. Keitt" <tklistaddr keittlab bio sunysb edu> writes:
> 
> Obscure, to say the least. Why can't gconf figure this out itself?
>

GConf has no more information than the kernel does - if the kernel
says the file is locked, GConf has no basis to second-guess.  If it
did try to second guess, then it would make mistakes.  And that leads
to silent config corruption, rather than the obvious "config doesn't
work" situation that happens now.
  
So I think the best we can do is ask the user to intervene manually,
and fix the OS bug.

> In this case perhaps, but averaged over many such experiences, I would
> still have to conclude that gconf (or whatever mechanisms are being
> employed) is not very robust. I also get concerned when I see things
> like the galeon developers saying 'we have no idea why this happens
> (gconf looses settings), but try "kill something-or-other" and hope it
> works'. Doesn't speak to a transparent or robust design.

I don't think the Galeon FAQ is very up-to-date or accurate on this
point.

Havoc