Removing and re-installing gconf & gconf-editor ??

[William Case]

Hi;

I just freshly re-installed Fedora 9.

Problem: 

Many of my gnome applets and desktop are still not working as they
should.

gconf & gconf-editor is not giving me the same keys in 'root' as in
'user' for common applications because (I think) gconf in 'user' is
being over ridden by the '/home/user/.gconf' in the /home partition that
I preserved on the new install.  I used the 'root account ' as a
comparison because its .gconf was removed and re-written by gconf on
installation.

gconf-cleaner in 'user' finds more and more keys to change or remove
each time I run it in whichever 'user account ' ( I have three on my
machine.)

The problems that I have and that have persisted with the re-install
are:

      * Information for system => networking => is missing from
        my .gconf and gconf-editor.  I have been told by several people
        on this list that that data should be present although I don't
        remember having seen it before.
      * The latest linux kernel update was installed but was not being
        updated in  grub.conf.
      * 'clock' applet not getting task and calendar info from Evolution
        properly.  The clock applet has different keys in root from
        user. The biggest difference being the  inclusion
        of /apps/panel/default_setup/applets/clock/bonobo_iid and the
        absence of the choices for task list and appointments.  Every
        time I click on it disappears from the panel and warns me to
        reload. (I include that as a symptom of bigger things)
      * My trashcan has disappeared from my desktop and nautilus through
        gconf-editor won't/can't put it back.  I have had several people
        post me about how it is supposed to work.  I assure everyone I
        have marked it as visible in nautilus => desktop. That works
        when I am logged in as root but not as a user.
      * Plus other screwy things are going on with other applications
        that may or may not be related.  I haven't chased them down yet,
        and it may not be necessary if I can get my gconf working.

I have checked the logs and roots messages nothing _seems_ untoward on
the surface of it (some unalarming gnome-keyring messages and gconfd
resolving some addresses).

Unless someone has a better solution, I was thinking of 'yum remove
gconf gconf-editor' and deleting all my user's .gconf dir/files.  Then
re-installing gconf and gconf-editor.  

However, that means I lose all my configurations for all my apps; and,
gconf-editor has a lot of dependencies.  If yum had a way to remove an
app while leaving the dependencies intact or a way to do a 'dry run' I
wouldn't be asking for advice. I have read through man yum-utils etc and
see nothing useful there.  I am not sure rpm -evv --nodeps -- test would
be any better.

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If anyone has a better idea of where the problems might lie or how to
fix them please let me know.
  
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The thing that bothers me about my solution is that gconf should have
installed in the first place accommodating my preexisting ~/.gconf.  As
far as I can tell, I have not touched or been messing about with
anything that should damage gconf.

-- 
Regards Bill;
Fedora 9, Gnome 2.22.3
Evo.2.22.3.1, Emacs 22.2.1