Re: Configuring for a user with Gnome

[Aaron Konstam <akonstam Trinity Edu>]

On Thu, Nov 21, 2002 at 11:12:44AM -0800, Owen Dorsey wrote:
> Thanks for discussing this with me. I didn't explain myself very well.
> 	I do have a root account. I understand that I must have one. It is all
> I've been using while I set up my new installation, and everything seems
> to work well, so far.
> 	But- everyone tells me I should not use the root account for routine,
> everyday work, because it would be more likely that something could be
> inadvertantly messed up.
> 	So now I'm setting up a non-root user account for the first time, and I
> discover I must re-configure most things for the "new user" (there's
> really just me, not even a network, just the internet.)
> 	I mean all the desktop colors, window behavior, Gnome is back to
> default settings, applets on the panel, etc., ISP account info, web
> browser configuration, etc., etc.
> 	I have already set all that up as the root user, but now I realize that
> root is only necessary for system administration, which can be
> accomplished by "su" from the (non-root) user account.
> 	So, I am concluding (after it is too late?) that I should have set up
> all my preferances, configuration choices, dial-up settings and so on,
> from the non-root account, and "su" to root only when it was necessary.
> I don't need a "root" desktop scheme with  its own colors, applets,
> dial-up  info, and all the rest, because the root account will use the
> non-root settings when I "su".
> 	Am I wrong? I hope so!
> 	Are there any short cuts or tricks I can use to configure/set up the
> preferances and everything else for the new non-root user with what I
> already set up for the root account? Thanks again.
First of all to go to root you should type su - not su. The former gets
you to root wqiuth all of roots environment, the latter tkes you to root
wiht the previous users environment. This is true for su - <login> vs 
su <login> also.
Second I suspect that if you copy all the .gnome* files and directories
from the root home directory to you user home directory plus changing
their ownership and group appropriately your gnome environment will be
transferred for root to the user.
-- 
-------------------------------------------
Aaron Konstam
Computer Science
Trinity University
715 Stadium Dr.
San Antonio, TX 78212-7200

telephone: (210)-999-7484
email:akonstam trinity edu