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Cleanup your GNOME GConf database

Submitted by stro on Wed, 2007-06-13 09:07. GNOME
GNOME

The other day I stumbled upon this neat tool that helps cleanup your GConf registry, called GConf Cleaner. While GNOME registry size isn't nowhere near the size of Windows registry, and thus shouldn't slow your computer too much, it's still nice to have a tool that cleans unused and obsolete entries.

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gconf-cleaner is a Google Summer of Code project.

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what to clean up?

Submitted by Anonymous George (not verified) on Sun, 2007-06-17 18:00.

Hm, I think it's useless nowadays. I think it would be much more useful to create a gconf keys backup tool (for those highrollers without "daily backup" scripts :)). We all know there are situations when the only solution is to delete ~/.gconf and ~/.gnome2 to make Gnome work again.

Mmh... by Anonymous George (not verified)
I suppose this is the time by Anonymous George (not verified)
And you suggest? Flat text by Anonymous George (not verified)
Are we recreating Windows by Anonymous George (not verified)

of course, there is a system-wide gconf "registry"

Submitted by Johannes on Sat, 2007-06-23 11:05.

The only problem we have is that we don't have a system wide registry, only desktop-wide, but that can not easily be fixed.

What makes you think so? Of course, there are system-wide gconf-settings. Have a look at /etc/gconf

The only difference is that on GNU/Linux, the normal user does not have root permissions and thus is protected from accidently modifying the system.

What makes you think so? Of by Anonymous George (not verified)

system-wide

Submitted by Johannes on Mon, 2007-06-25 05:21.

By "system wide", I mean "a cofiguration system that is used by anything, including boot scripts and possibly the kernel".

If it is that, what you mean, that sounds rather like a nightmare to me.

No, the Windows registry by Anonymous George (not verified)
No, the Windows registry by Anonymous George (not verified)
The truth is, it is fricking by Anonymous George (not verified)
Also, although I've never by Anonymous George (not verified)

same on windows.

Submitted by Johannes on Sat, 2007-06-23 10:48.

Of course, you can delete your ntuser.dat on Windows, too. Next time you log in, you'll get the system defaults.

useless

Submitted by Anonymous George (not verified) on Wed, 2007-06-13 11:36.

this doesn't just get rid of unused gconf keys it just basically gets rid of ALL of them (except bare basic gnome keys) and destroys a ton of apps! DON'T USE!

use with care!

Submitted by Johannes on Sat, 2007-06-23 10:50.

by default, it kills all keys which are not associated with a particular scheme.

This sounds reasonable, but in reality, many keys which contain real and important settings are not associated with a scheme, therefore this tool will mercilessly delete them:

Examples are:

* /system/networking/wireless/networks/* (which is used by NetworkManager to use WLAN names and settings.

* all user-defined protocols in /desktop/gnome/url-handlers

I guess there are countless other cases of this kind. The fact that a particular key is not associated with a schema does by no means guarantee that it is obsolete.

use with care!

Submitted by Anonymous George (not verified) on Sat, 2007-06-23 10:46.

by default, it kills all keys which are not associated with a particular scheme.

This sounds reasonable, but in reality, many keys which contain real and important settings are not associated with a scheme, therefore this tool will mercilessly delete them:

Examples are:

* /system/networking/wireless/networks/* (which is used by NetworkManager to use WLAN names and settings.

* all user-defined protocols in /desktop/gnome/url-handlers

I guess there are countless other cases of this kind. The fact that a particular key is not associated with a schema does by no means guarantee that it is obsolete.

I used it to clean out some by Anonymous George (not verified)

It killed

Submitted by Anonymous George (not verified) on Wed, 2007-06-20 00:40.

It killed Avant-Window-Navigator & Beryl and a few other apps when I did it.