KDE global config

[bleedingsamurai]

I'm looking for global configuration settings for KDE, or at least away in which I can create default settings that are copied into each user's kdehome directory.

I have found some stuff in /usr/share/config and /usr/share/config.kcfg but it doesn't seem like everything.
I have also found that a possible solution would be to set everything how I want it and then copy that ~/.kde directory to /etc/skel

I am just not sure what is the "correct" way to set KDE default settings for users verses the "hack" way.

[westburian]

This may not exactly answer your question as far as KDE 'global config' but I can share some of what I know helped me when I had a minor KDE catastrophe a while back

Now, I still prefer KDE 3.5.10 but the same generalities might apply, just read between the lines to see if this applies to you.

When you run 'adduser' and create a new account and run KDE for the first time as that user, it sets you up with some defaults, with of course a few tweaks and preferences you go throught with a wizard first time you run it.

Those files are placed in your home directory in a hidden directory called .kde

on my box, for example

westburian@mattsw12:~/.kde$ ls
Autostart/ cache-mattsw12@ share/ socket-mattsw12@ tmp-mattsw12@

the Autostart is a good place to put scripts you would like to start when KDE starts. The /share directory, branches out even further, and is where you will find the real nuts and bolts of your indivicual user configuration

on mine:

westburian@mattsw12:~/.kde/share$ ls
applnk/ apps/ config/ icons/ locale/ mimelnk/ services/ servicetypes/ wallpapers/


fairly self explanatory, and delving even further, let's cd to config

westburian@mattsw12:~/.kde/share/config$ ls
KWeatherServicerc kexirc kpilotrc
akregatorrc kfaxrc kplatorc
amarokrc kfaxviewrc kplayerlibraryrc
arkrc kfindrc kplayerplaylistrc
carouselrc kfmclientrc kplayerrc


I only listed a few, but these files ending in rc are config files for your apps under that user name, the good news is that they are in plain text. During my 'catastrophe' I had a real flaky mouse with a flaky mouse button and lint in the roller ball and somehow I managed to 'throw away' my tray/taskbar at the bottom into the 'trash' or something, because my tray/taskbar was GONE!! In kde 3.5.10 it's actually called the kicker and upon looking at the kickerrc file I saw an entry that said something like 'hiddent= true' and I changed that to false and it brought my kicker bar back and I was able to breathe a sigh of relief, as I thought I had somehow done a major fubar thing to my KDE, but that fixed it.

Now, I have been told, that if you simply delete those files, it will reset your settings for your apps for that user. I would suggest before you do something that drastic to your personal /home/user that you no doubt have spent some time in to either 1) back everything up or 2) use adduser to create a test account and play around in your ~/test/.kde files first to get the hang of it....

It also occurs to me that mucking about with KDE's global files may not be something you'd want to do, perhaps they are best left alone, and then you can adduser or deluser accounts as you wish or experiment with the files in ~/home/user/.kde as I have just mentioned

hope that helps a little, cheers!