dconf problems, can't change settings

[arromdee]

Mageia 2.

I generally don't run Gnome (I have fvwm2, a manually edited .fvwm2rc, and a basic .xinitrc which just runs it). However, I have all of these same problems, including all greyed-out and permissions problems, if I move aside my .fvrm2rc and .xinitrc and start Gnome.

Trying to run dconf-editor as myself shows me only a few keys. For instance, I am trying to change the default file chooser sort method. The org/gtk/settings/file-chooser is not there. Any key that is there is uneditable; for instance, there is an org/gtk/Demo string key set to "red", but trying to pick "blue" or "green" just leaves it set to "red". Also the "set to default" button is greyed out.

I do have a /home/arromdee/.config/dconf/user file but it makes no difference whatsoever.

If I try running dconf-editor as root, more keys are available, including the org/gtk/settings/file-chooser I am looking for, and the "set to default" button is not greyed. However, I still can't change any settings.

Googling suggested that I might be able to change something in /etc/dconf. I went to /etc/dconf/db/gdm.d, copied 00-upstream-settings to 01-upstream-settings and set all "disable" items to "false". I also deleted all "disable" locks from /etc/dconf/db/gdm.d/locks and ran dconf update. No difference; I am still unable to edit anything.

The dconf service does appear to be running. Killing it and letting it restart doesn't help either.

I also tried editing some settings directly with dconf. "dconf dump / > foo" gave me settings in the file 'foo'. However, trying to edit the file and use "dconf load / < foo" doesn't work. First of all, it produces the error message "error: The connection is closed". Second, anything I change isn't there when I do a second dconf dump.

I don't know who decided that Linux should get the Windows registry, only worse, but this is incredibly confusing. Does anyone have any idea what is going on? Is anyone else even able to run dconf-editor and change things?

[doktor5000]

You are sure you don't want to run gconf-editor?

[arromdee]

Is there some setting in gconf which allows me to change the default sort order of the file chooser? I can't find it.

[doktor5000]

Most settings for the file chooser (like the "system" bookmarks on the left panel, in the middle) can't be adjusted, or the GNOME guys won't tell how to.
I've gotten really frustrated about this, as with Mandriva 2010.1 and 2010.2 IIRC i was able to add/remove and manage those system bookmarks.
Ironically those that i've added back then, and which i migrated over, f.ex. via transmission's settings, can't be adjusted anymore

But if you find the settings for the file chooser (also called filepicker) it would be nice if you could give some feedback.
I've looked at http://developer.gnome.org/gtk/2.24/Gtk ... ialog.html and others like that for my purpose, but to no avail.

[arromdee]

As far as I can tell, the org/gtk/settings/file-chooser dconf setting is the proper one for the file chooser. The problem is that dconf won't let me change it.

Changing the corresponding setting for GTK 2.0 programs was trivial and actually works.

[arromdee]

For the record, the GTK 2.0 setting is in $HOME/.config/gtk-2.0/gtkfilechooser.ini.