Bug 290675

Summary: unmix settings and data in rc files in .kde/share/config
Product: [I don't know] kde Reporter: Aaron Peterson <alpeterson>
Component: generalAssignee: Unassigned bugs mailing-list <unassigned-bugs>
Status: RESOLVED NOT A BUG    
Severity: normal CC: ben, cfeck
Priority: NOR    
Version: CVS   
Target Milestone: ---   
Platform: Ubuntu   
OS: Linux   
Latest Commit: Version Fixed In:
Sentry Crash Report:

Description Aaron Peterson 2012-01-05 10:24:26 UTC 
Version:           CVS (using Devel) 
OS:                Linux

I am trying to set up an /etc/skel  that will give me the settings I require for KDE.

it is apparent to me that there needs to be a separation of settings and history data.   The rule of thumb should be:

If I made the change in a control panel or preferences/settings menu,  It updates the config directory.   If the data comes from using it, it needs to go into a .kde/history folder



(double click to open files, details view, turn off slow effects, disable plasma-netbook, arrange some folder view plasmoids for Desktop, Downloads, Documents, and /Media and a device monitor...   set up a panel on the left with simple kiker, a clock, pager, quicklaunch, configure the date format)

I would like to just copy my kde config to /etc/skel,  but there are lists of what files I have opened in kmplayerrc, dolphinrc has state in it, and History

  This is not right.







Reproducible: Didn't try

Steps to Reproduce:
Try to optimize kde default settings for a multi-user system.
copy way too much stuff to the skel file



Actual Results:  
Spend time trying to figure out what needs to be removed from the /etc/skel

I have not been able to set defaults at this time.

Expected Results:  
copy my .kde/config directory to /etc/skel/.kde/config

no personal data would be included, it works.

I am currently using kubuntu 11.10 with kde 4.7.95 from the backports-beta
 ppa


This looks like it touches a lot of programs. It looks like an alteration in specifications is being requested.   This looks like it would be technically simple to do, but tedious.
Comment 1 Christoph Feck 2012-01-05 15:35:54 UTC 
The line between settings and data is blurry. For example, in the document viewer Okular, it remembers the last "save to" directory for future saves. Is that a setting or history data?

> This looks like it touches a lot of programs.

Since KDE already has separate config and data directories, you should file reports for each application affected. Sometimes it has to be decided, which of the saved values is data, and which is configuration, so some discussion would be required. For the cases, where it is clear, it could be fixed one by one.
Comment 2 Aaron Peterson 2012-01-10 19:58:28 UTC 
Thank you christoph,

I will get started,  I plan to mark them as dependent on this one.

bug 245844 depends on this.
Comment 3 Aaron Peterson 2012-01-10 20:00:56 UTC 
btw,  what is the history directory?
Comment 4 Aaron Peterson 2012-01-10 21:59:56 UTC 
rekonqrc has a field called State.

This changes when I reconfigure the default browser.
This is the sort of half way between setting and session information.

Personally, I want it in the env part, but then again, I might want to control exactly how a window pops up for a new user...   Still, if it is in the env, someone can put it in the skel if they want it.  I think that would be a good way to go about it.
Comment 5 Aaron Peterson 2012-01-18 01:16:41 UTC 
I figured out that there is a .kde/share/app directory, and this is where all of that data should go.


But why is it in a "share" directory?

Also, back in the day, for kde 3.5, there was a deployment kit for KDE.  Does anybody wanna work on that for kde 4?
Comment 6 Ben Creasy 2018-03-03 16:35:55 UTC 
There's a general problem with mixing data and settings inside config files. Not too sure about this specific case, but it causes problems when version controlling configuration.
Comment 7 Christoph Feck 2018-03-29 23:08:45 UTC 
As indicated in comment #1, we need individual reports for each application that does not clearly separate ~/.config (for configuration) and ~/.local/share (for user data).
Comment 8 Ben Creasy 2018-08-19 04:02:44 UTC 
fyi Christopher Feck - I submitted a specific report at https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=397602