Niki Kovacs
2009-Nov-30 17:15 UTC
[CentOS] Change system-wide default configuration for FF and OO with /etc/skel
Hi, I'm using a heavily tweaked CentOS 5.4 for desktop installs (here's what it looks like: http://www.microlinux.fr/captures.html). For every app I install, I try to configure a sensible default configuration system-wide for all users. For example, once I found a nice configuration for XMMS (default skin, loads of plugins, orange On Screen Display in a nice font, etcetera), I put my whole ~/.xmms in /etc/skel, so that every new user on the system will have the same default configuration. I have a script which does that for most of the applications I install for users. Even my GNOME desktop is heavily tweaked, and similarly, there's a default /etc/skel/.gconf for this. Now I have two annoyances remaining: Firefox and OpenOffice.org. When installing both of these (Firefox from the CentOS repos, OpenOffice.org from the RPMS contained in openoffice.org's tarball), the default configuration for each one (in ~/.mozilla and ~/.openoffice.org) takes no less than 3 MB, which I find a bit puzzling. Since I keep all my default configurations in an SVN tree, I find this a bit heavy. For Firefox, I only change a couple of options (like "Close download manager after finishing downloading" and "always ask where to store a file"). Similarly, for OpenOffice.org, I change things like auto-completion (so users won't call me on a sunday morning asking "Why does it try to finish my sentences?"). I guess the "real" configuration must be some small plain text file. But then, where? Is there a way not to upload the whole 3 MB of configuration? Cheers, Niki
Robert Heller
2009-Nov-30 17:36 UTC
[CentOS] Change system-wide default configuration for FF and OO with /etc/skel
At Mon, 30 Nov 2009 18:15:23 +0100 CentOS mailing list <centos at centos.org> wrote:> > Hi, > > I'm using a heavily tweaked CentOS 5.4 for desktop installs (here's what > it looks like: http://www.microlinux.fr/captures.html). > > For every app I install, I try to configure a sensible default > configuration system-wide for all users. For example, once I found a > nice configuration for XMMS (default skin, loads of plugins, orange On > Screen Display in a nice font, etcetera), I put my whole ~/.xmms in > /etc/skel, so that every new user on the system will have the same > default configuration. I have a script which does that for most of the > applications I install for users. Even my GNOME desktop is heavily > tweaked, and similarly, there's a default /etc/skel/.gconf for this. > > Now I have two annoyances remaining: Firefox and OpenOffice.org. When > installing both of these (Firefox from the CentOS repos, OpenOffice.org > from the RPMS contained in openoffice.org's tarball), the default > configuration for each one (in ~/.mozilla and ~/.openoffice.org) takes > no less than 3 MB, which I find a bit puzzling. Since I keep all my > default configurations in an SVN tree, I find this a bit heavy. > > For Firefox, I only change a couple of options (like "Close download > manager after finishing downloading" and "always ask where to store a > file"). Similarly, for OpenOffice.org, I change things like > auto-completion (so users won't call me on a sunday morning asking "Why > does it try to finish my sentences?"). > > I guess the "real" configuration must be some small plain text file. But > then, where? Is there a way not to upload the whole 3 MB of configuration?There is a file named 'prefs.js' in the ~/.mozilla/firefox/<mumble>.default/ directory. Here are some other 'magic files' there you might want to 'standardize': extensions* (some files and a directory): extensions live here (if there are some 'standard' extensions you want all your users to have, eg your company's / organization's toolbar) localstore.rdf: contains things like your toolbar arangements (if there is some 'standard' settings for your company / organization) places.sqlite: bookmarks (if there is some 'standard' set of bookmarks)> > Cheers, > > Niki > _______________________________________________ > CentOS mailing list > CentOS at centos.org > http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos > >-- Robert Heller -- 978-544-6933 Deepwoods Software -- Download the Model Railroad System http://www.deepsoft.com/ -- Binaries for Linux and MS-Windows heller at deepsoft.com -- http://www.deepsoft.com/ModelRailroadSystem/