Novell LINUX ENTERPRISE DESKTOP 10 SP2 - DEPLOYMENT GUIDE 08-05-2008 Deployment Manual page 242

GConf Schema Definition Files
Schemas are generated from schema definition files. A schema definition file defines
the characteristics of all of the keys in a particular application. Schema definition files
have a .schemas extension.
The schema definition files are included in the /etc/opt/gnome/opt/gnome/
gconf/schemas directory. You can use the schema definition files to create a new
configuration source.
Some schema definition files correspond closely to a part of the GNOME Desktop user
interface. For example, system_http_proxy.schemas corresponds to the Network Proxy
preference tool. Other schema definition files contain preference keys that are not
present in the GNOME Desktop user interface. For example, the /apps/panel/
global/tooltips_enabled key is not present.
Some parts of the GNOME Desktop user interface contain preferences that represent
preference keys from more than one schema definition file. For example, the Keyboard
Shortcuts preference tool contains preferences that represent keys from the panel-
global-config.schemas and metacity.schemas files.
10.1.2 GConf Daemon
The GConf daemon is called gconfd-2. It notifies applications when a preference value
changes. For example, you might choose to show only icons in toolbars in the Menus
& Toolbars preference tool. When you select this option in the preference tool, the
toolbars on all open applications are updated instantly. The daemon can operate locally
or across a network.
An instance of the GConf daemon is started for each user. It does not have to deal with
complex problems such as authentication and data security. When the daemon starts,
it loads the GConf path file. The daemon also manages all access between applications
and the configuration sources.
When an application requests the value of a preference key, the daemon searches the
configuration sources as follows:
1. Search for the value of the preference key in each configuration source, in the order
specified in the path file.
226 Deployment Guide