GNOME - Gconf, NFS $HOME, orbitrc tricks

So, for the longest time I wondered why using Gnome as a desktop for a user (with an NFS automounted $HOME directory) on two machines would cause all sorts of silly warnings and error messages from Gnome applications - related to GConf.

Two reasons.

The first is that the Gnome IPC mechanisim is only good on the localhost unless you tweak an dotfile in your $HOME directory. The file is '.orbitrc' and it should contain the following two lines

ORBIIOPIPv4=1
ORBIIOPUSock=1

The second is that gconf puts lock files in your home dir and somethimes those dangle after a crash or, well, I really don't care. All I know is that I've had a look at this document (GConf configuration system)and found out how to shut gconfd down and remove the lock files.

gconftool-2 --shutdown
rm ~/.gconfd/lock/ior
rm ~/.gconf/%gconf-xml-backend.lock/ior

All the information here is in that document.... I just wanted to make it quick for me to remember the next time my remote gnome-terminal comes up with crazy fonts and colors.

ssh -X <machinename> 'bash -l -c "gnome-terminal \ --window-with-profile=<profilename>"'

Xorg -nolisten tcp

So what's the point of Xauth and DISPLAY settings and xhost + if it all boils down to a radio button in a "Login Screen" control panel?

I suppose it's great that these Linux distros (like fedora core 6 (test 3)) are now shipping with all security options set to paranoia level 'RED' but damn it make it easier to turn this garbage off for those of us who like living on the edge.