GNOME 2.0 Desktop for the Solaris Operating Environment System Administration Guide Sun Microsystems, Inc. 4150 Network Circle Santa Clara, CA 95054 U.S.A. Part No: 817–3851–10 December 2003 Copyright 2003 Sun Microsystems, Inc. 4150 Network Circle, Santa Clara, CA 95054 U.S.A. All rights reserved. This product or document is protected by copyright and distributed under licenses restricting its use, copying, distribution, and decompilation. No part of this product or document may be reproduced in any form by any means without prior written authorization of Sun and its licensors, if any. Third-party software, including font technology, is copyrighted and licensed from Sun suppliers. Parts of the product may be derived from Berkeley BSD systems, licensed from the University of California. UNIX is a registered trademark in the U.S. and other countries, exclusively licensed through X/Open Company, Ltd. 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CE DENI DE GARANTIE NE S’APPLIQUERAIT PAS, DANS LA MESURE OU IL SERAIT TENU JURIDIQUEMENT NUL ET NON AVENU. 031111@6671 Contents Preface 7 1 Using GConf 11 Introducing GConf 11 GConf Repository 12 GConf Configuration Sources 13 GConf Schemas 14 GConf Schema Definition Files 15 GConf Daemon 15 GConf Command Line Tool 16 To Set Preference Values 19 Setting General Preferences 19 To Set HTTP Proxy Preferences 20 To Set Print Manager Preferences 20 To Set the Number of Workspaces 20 To Set Keyboard Accessibility Preferences 21 To Set Keyboard Shortcut Preferences 21 To Set Global Panel Preferences 22 To Set Preferences for Individual Panels and Panel Objects 22 Setting Look-and-Feel Preferences 27 To Set Font Preferences 27 To Set Desktop Background Preferences 27 To Set Splash Image Preferences 28 To Restore Default Preference Values 28 3 2 Customizing Menus 29 Introduction to Menus 29 File Abstraction Layer 30 Vfolders and Menus 30 Desktop Entry Files 32 Directory Entry Files 33 Editing Menus 34 Adding Menus 34 To Add an Item to a Menu 35 To Edit the Properties of a Menu 36 To Edit a Menu Item 36 To Delete an Item from a Menu 37 To Configure Menus That Users Cannot Modify 37 3 Installing Themes 39 Introduction to Themes 39 To Install a Desktop Theme 40 To Install a Window Frame Theme 40 Installing Icons for Themes 41 To Create a Custom Desktop Theme 42 4 MIME Types 43 Introduction to MIME Types 43 Detecting the MIME Type for a File 44 File Content Sniffers 44 Pattern Masks 45 MIME Type Registry 45 Registering Applications for MIME Types 48 Adding an Application to the Desktop Environment 50 5 Setting Screensavers 51 Introduction to Screensavers 51 Setting Screensaver Preferences 52 Modifying Screensaver Displays 53 4 GNOME 2.0 Desktop for the Solaris Operating Environment System Administration Guide • December 2003 6 Session Management 55 Introduction to Sessions 55 Setting Session Defaults 56 Login Scripts 56 7 Improving Performance 57 Introduction to Improving Performance 57 Reducing CPU Usage 58 To Use Themes Which Require Less CPU Resources 58 To Reduce CPU Usage by Turning Off Display of Icons in Menus 59 To Reduce CPU Usage by Turning On Wireframe Mode 59 To Reduce CPU Usage by Turning Off the Splash Screen 59 To Reduce CPU Usage by Turning Off Panel Animation 60 Improving File Manager Performance 60 To Use the mediaLib Libraries 63 Reducing X Window System Network Traffic 63 To Use Themes Which Create Less Network Traffic 63 To Reduce Network Traffic by Turning Off Display of Icons in Menus 64 To Reduce Network Traffic by Turning On Wireframe Mode 64 Reducing Color Usage and Improving Display Quality 64 To Use Themes That Use the Websafe Color Palette 65 To Reduce Color Usage by Turning Off Display of Icons in Menus 65 To Reduce Color Usage by Turning Off the Splash Screen 65 To Reduce Color Usage by Using a Solid Color for the Desktop Background 66 A Hidden Directories 67 Glossary 71 Index 75 Contents 5 6 GNOME 2.0 Desktop for the Solaris Operating Environment System Administration Guide • December 2003 Preface GNOME 2.0 Desktop for the Solaris Operating Environment System Administration Guide provides information on how to administer a system running the GNOME 2.0 Desktop on the Solaris™ 8 operating environment and the Solaris 9 operating environment. Who Should Use This Book This book is for system administrators who are responsible for administering one or more systems that are running the GNOME 2.0 Desktop. For information on how to use the GNOME 2.0 Desktop, see GNOME 2.0 Desktop for the Solaris Operating Environment User Guide. Before You Read This Book Before you read this book, you should ensure that you have some familiarity with the following topics: I UNIX® system administration I Structure of Extensible Markup Language (XML) files I How to use XML files in the context of system administration 7 How This Book Is Organized This book is organized as follows: I Chapter 1 describes how to use GConf to manage user preferences. I Chapter 2 describes the implementation of menus and how to customize menus. I Chapter 3 describes the types of theme that are available in the GNOME Desktop, how to install themes, and how to create a custom theme. I Chapter 4 describes how applications detect MIME types, how to register MIME types, and how to add applications to the GNOME Desktop. I Chapter 5 describes how to set preferences for the screensaver. This chapter also provides information on how to modify the displays that are available for the screensaver. I Chapter 6 introduces session management, and describes how to set session defaults. This chapter also contains information on sessions and login scripts. I Chapter 7 describes how to improve the performance of the GNOME Desktop. I Appendix A describes the hidden directories that the GNOME Desktop adds to the home directories of users. I Glossary is a list of words and phrases found in this book and their definitions. Related Documents The following manuals are related to this guide: I GNOME 2.0 Desktop for the Solaris Operating Environment Accessibility Guide I GNOME 2.0 Desktop for the Solaris Operating Environment Installation Guide I GNOME 2.0 Desktop for the Solaris Operating Environment Release Notes I GNOME 2.0 Desktop for the Solaris Operating Environment Troubleshooting Guide I GNOME 2.0 Desktop for the Solaris Operating Environment User Guide 8 GNOME 2.0 Desktop for the Solaris Operating Environment System Administration Guide • December 2003 Accessing Sun Documentation Online The docs.sun.comSM Web site enables you to access Sun technical documentation online.