[K12OSN] Changing the default desktop background: a test package

[Jon Spriggs]

On 17/06/05, Eric Harrison <eharrison at mail.mesd.k12.or.us> wrote:
> 
> I think I have a reasonable way to alter the default GNOME desktop
> background image.
> 
> If you would like to help test this out, you can grab it at:
> 
>   ftp://k12linux.mesd.k12.or.us/pub/K12LTSP/testing/RPMS/k12ltsp-backgrounds-0-0.noarch.rpm
> 
> There are two ways to use it:
> 
> 1) From the command line, execute "/usr/sbin/default_desktop <image>",
>    such as:
> 
>        /usr/sbin/default_desktop /usr/share/backgrounds/images/k12ltsp/mexican_sunset.jpg
> 
> 2) From root's desktop, find the image you want and drag-n-drop it on the
>    "Set the default background image" icon on the desktop.
> 
> Using the command-line tool, we can define the default desktop during the
> install processes.
> 
> Here is how it works (or is supposed to work, anyways ;-)
> 
> * checks to make sure that the image file exists, if not it displays a
>   usage message and exits
> 
> * verifies that the image file is indeed most likely an image file of
>   some sort (runs "file <filename> | cut -d':' -f2- | grep -i image"),
>   if not exits with an error that the file is not an image.
> 
> * copies the image file to /etc/sysconfig/background/default.img, making
>   a backup if a file by that name already exists
> 
> * changes ownership of default.img to root:root and sets the mode to 0644
> 
> * runs the "gconftool-2 --direct --config-source..." magic to make
>   /etc/sysconfig/background/default.img the default background
> 
> * tells the user that the default background has been changed, but it
>   won't take affect until the next time they log in
> 
> As you may note from the last step, the change is not real-time. You
> have to log out and log back in to see the new background.
> 
> Also note that this only sets the default background. If a user has
> changed their background, this command will not change their background -
> they will still see their custom background.
> 
> Finally, if everyone is happy with this setup, we'll have to figure
> out what the new default background should be. I would suggest that I
> setup a gallery on Paul's www.oregonphotoblog.org and use that to vote
> for a favorite.
> 
> If you have photos YOU OWN that you would like to consider donating
> the the cause, contact me off-list. If you know of some nice photos
> you DON'T OWN, but are distributed under a GPL or CC license (or
> something similar that we could use), send me a LINK...
> 
> For demo purposes, I grabbed a couple of my own photos off
> of http://www.oregonphotoblog.org and included them in
> /usr/share/backgrounds/images/k12ltsp/
> 
> -Eric
> 
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> 

For a small change, how about making the script offer a --mandatory
and (default) --nomandatory which would then allow you to force the
change on to all users, or not (as the case may be)? Another possible
change is offering a --colour flag meaning you can do default_desktop
--colour blue giving a solid blue colour. This would cut down the
bandwidth across the network somewhat. If you want, I'll tweak the
script (if you can provide the sources) and I'll feed it back.

Regards,
-- 
Jon "Four Star Gun" Spriggs AKA
Jon "The Nice Guy" Spriggs