A rant about solutions using dconf-editor

Thoughts & Feedback
#1

I want to open up this with what dconf-editor actually is:

:blue_book: man description :pencil2: for dconf-editor:
The dconf-editor program provides a graphical interface for editing settings that are stored by other applications using the gsettings functions of the glib library, or in the dconf database. The gsettings and dconf utilities provides similar functionality on the commandline.

:pencil2: Removed footnote declarations, added formatting and emphasis.

That last part — People ignoring this kill me. It's the other half of a solution to one's query which is always always missing in answers where the command line would provide an equally-satisfactory result.

Why? Why do so few people know about this? I simply do not understand, especially since this is a forum with text, you would imagine the command line answer, something which people could copy and paste would be ideal to include as an "Advanced" / "Power user" option those standing by could incorporate into their post-install scripts for themselves and other people.

You don't even have to be a software developer to use software within a terminal emulator of preference. Far as users go, I am as dumb as a sack of rocks. It took me years before I discovered the joy of the xargs command — something which I am going to attempt incorporating more into the future. Let me reiterate — I am an ordinary user with desires to be slightly above-average.

As a Linux user, I already go into things knowing I am sacrificing convenience for choice. And sometimes, even exchanging functionality for freedom. But if there is one thing that Linux does well, it's being modified by using commands within a terminal. Again, let me reiterate this is a text-based website you are reading. Discourse may have fancy graphical bells and whistles but that's lipstick on a pig, where one could browse and interact in this forum using their terminal with links2. Am I that masochistic? Of course not.

I like my front-ends like everybody else. But where a solution could be as simple as punching in a command or two in the terminal, I don't see why users answering questions shouldn't strive to do just that, to compliment their "Recommended" answer using a graphical front-end. The moment you begin typing dconf-editor, you should be thinking about how to perform changes with gsettings.

1 Like
#2

Hi tiox,

I understand your despair (if that's the right word) but I think that it is a case of holding their hand, if you use a terminal command (the quick and easy method), it is basically background noise that produces text in a terminal window, when people use a GUI based app (like dconf-editor), they have a picture in front of them that they can relate to!. I always (well nearly always) include a screenshot of something as it is very easy for beginners or noobs to relate to.

I guess it comes down to the old maxim that a picture is worth a thousand words!. :grinning:

Users helping other (newer) users must make a mental note of the users level of expertise when giving an answer, 95% of computer users have no idea what happens under the hood!.

Stay safe everyone. :grinning: :grinning: :grinning:

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#3

I'll be honest that even though I use the terminal for almost all software installation and removal, I don't mess with gsettings because there seems to be way too many of them for me to memorize and personally if I can't memorize or memorize a quick way to find out (does not include searching the web,) a command or set of commands I would rather use a gui

#4

And I am not saying that including the screenshots and things to click on is a bad thing. Take a few minutes to read my post again and tell me where I suggested newbies shouldn't be serviced with GUI apps. I don't see it. I do see this:

You don't need to memorize them for anything expressly for your machine. Just make a script with only the preferences you want and execute it. Name it anything you want, then if you ever reinstall or an upgrade reverts some preferences, make it executable and run it.

gsettings is real, real simple. If you're familiar with dconf-editor then you have your settings to modify already, just that paths are delimited with dots rather than slashes.

#5

This appears to be a solution in search of a problem.

#6

Not knocking your post, just my own observations. :blush:

#7

Hello! I got a problem for you, I guess, given mdooley comment haha.

I had been looking for a way to edit my desktop configuration from the terminal without installing stuff because I do not have admin rights (see here). However, I have struggled a lot to find a list with all the different 'commands' that is possible to modify, as they are not intuitive at all. It took me forever to be able to modify all the available fonts with gsettings.

Now I would like to modify the height of the bottom panel and add it to my script. By any chance, do you know the right command to modify that? Where can I find an intuitive list of all the available commands and what they do? I don't mean to list the schemas or the keys, because they are not intuitive at all... but a comprehensive list that tells me what's the command for what part of the desktop.