<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Strict//EN"> <HTML LANG="en"> <HEAD> <META NAME="Author" CONTENT="Emil Brink, emil@obsession.se, 27-Aug-1998"> <META NAME="Design and HTML" CONTENT="Ulf Pettersson, ulf@obsession.se, 29-Sep-1998"> <META NAME="Copyright" CONTENT="May be redistributed and changed according to the GNU General Public License. See gpl.html" LANG="en"> <META NAME="Keywords" CONTENT="gentoo, Obsession, Emil Brink, filemanager, GTK+, Linux, file management, graphical configurability, Ulf Pettersson, Johan Hanson, files, copying, Obsession Development, " LANG="en"> <META NAME="Description" CONTENT="gentoo Documentation and User Manual. gentoo is a highly configurable graphical filemanager for Linux and other Unix-operating systems." LANG="en"> <META NAME="Resource-Type" CONTENT="document"> <META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html, charset=iso-8859-1"> <META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Style-Type" CONTENT="text/css"> <LINK REL="Toc" HREF="index.html"> <LINK REL="Next" HREF="cfg_styles.html"> <LINK REL="Previous" HREF="cfg_gui.html"> <LINK REL="Stylesheet" HREF="../gentoo.css" TYPE="text/css"> <TITLE>gentoo Documentation: The gentoo Configuration File</TITLE> </HEAD> <BODY BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#000000" LINK="#33EE33" VLINK="#EF8210" ALINK="#FFFF00"> <TABLE BORDER="0" WIDTH="100%"> <TR> <TD HEIGHT="90" VALIGN="Middle"><A HREF="../index.html"><IMG SRC="../images/gentoo_logo_g.gif" WIDTH="50" HEIGHT="50" ALT="Back to Table of Contents" VSPACE="8" HSPACE="32" BORDER="0"></A><IMG SRC="../images/gentoo_logo_text.gif" WIDTH="200" HEIGHT="55" ALT="gentoo - A Click-Ass Filemanager" BORDER="0"></TD> <TD ALIGN="CENTER"> </TD> <TD ALIGN="RIGHT" VALIGN="Middle"> <A HREF="http://www.obsession.se/"><IMG SRC="../images/od__logo_small.gif" WIDTH="64" HEIGHT="61" HSPACE="32" ALT="Go to Obsession Developments Homepage" BORDER="0"></A> </TD> </TR> </TABLE> <TABLE WIDTH="100%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=2 BORDER=0 STYLE="background: #000000; text-align: center;"> <TR> <TD CLASS="Select"><SMALL STYLE="font-weight: bold; font-size: 10px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <A HREF="../gpl.html" TITLE="License - How to distribute this software">LICENSE</A></SMALL></TD> <TD CLASS="Select"><SMALL STYLE="font-weight: bold; font-size: 10px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <A HREF="../relnotes.html" TITLE="Release Notes - Notes regarding this release">NOTES</A></SMALL></TD> <TD CLASS="Select"><SMALL STYLE="font-weight: bold; font-size: 10px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <A HREF="../quick.html" TITLE="Quick Guide - A quick guide to the basic concepts of gentoo">GUIDE</A></SMALL></TD> <TD CLASS="Select"><SMALL STYLE="font-weight: bold; font-size: 10px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <A HREF="../intro.html" TITLE="Introduction - Why another filemanager?, The features and goals of gentoo ">INTRO</A></SMALL></TD> <TD CLASS="Select"><SMALL STYLE="font-weight: bold; font-size: 10px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <A HREF="../usage.html" TITLE="Usage - How to use gentoo">USAGE</A></SMALL></TD> <TD CLASS="Section"><SMALL STYLE="font-weight: bold; font-size: 10px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><A HREF="../config/index.html" TITLE="Configuration - How to configure gentoo">CONFIG</A></SMALL></TD> <TD CLASS="Select"><SMALL STYLE="font-weight: bold; font-size: 10px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><A HREF="../history.html" TITLE="History - History of changes between versions">HISTORY</A></SMALL></TD> <TD CLASS="Select"><SMALL STYLE="font-weight: bold; font-size: 10px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><A HREF="../contribute.html" TITLE="Contribute - Help making gentoo a better filemanager">CONTRIBUTING</A></SMALL></TD> <TD CLASS="Select"><SMALL STYLE="font-weight: bold; font-size: 10px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><A HREF="../acks.html" TITLE="Acknowledgements - Who made gentoo?, Thanks">ACKS</A> </SMALL></TD> </TR> </TABLE> <H1>The <STRONG>gentoo</STRONG> Configuration File</H1> <IMG SRC="../images/tone.gif" WIDTH=175 HEIGHT=18 BORDER="0"> <H2>Introduction</H2> <P> Like most applications, <STRONG>gentoo</STRONG> needs somewhere to store its settings when it is not running, so you don't need to reconfigure it every time. The natural choice is, of course, to store the settings in a file in the file system, and this is exactly what <STRONG>gentoo</STRONG> does. This page describes the location and format of this configuration file. Unless you're a system administrator, there should be no <STRONG>need</STRONG> to read this. Unless you have a special interest in config files, that is... </P> <H2>Name and Location</H2> <P> In keeping with good old Un*x tradition, <STRONG>gentoo</STRONG> calls its configuration file "<CODE>.gentoorc</CODE>". Starting the name with a period hides it from (most) shell file listings, which is convenient. Ending the name with "rc" identifies it (to Un*x people, anyway) as being a configuration file, which is also very convenient. </P> <P> When <STRONG>gentoo</STRONG> starts up, it tries to load a configuration from the file "<CODE>$HOME/.gentoorc</CODE>". That is, it looks in the home directory of the user who started it. If the <CODE>HOME</CODE> environment variable isn't set, or if there is no config file to be found, <STRONG>gentoo</STRONG> checks for a file in "<CODE>/usr/local/etc/.gentoorc</CODE>". It is convenient to place a site-wide standard configuration there, since it will be loaded the first time a "new" users runs <STRONG>gentoo</STRONG>. If none of these files can be found, <STRONG>gentoo</STRONG> complains and then uses a minimal built-in configuration. </P> <P> The configuration file is always written to the user's home directory - there is no way of specifying a different file name. If you're installing <STRONG>gentoo</STRONG> for use by several users, just copy your configuration file from your home directory to <CODE>/usr/local/etc/</CODE>, so it can be used as the default for users. </P> <H2>File Format</H2> <P> Again, like most other Un*x programs, <STRONG>gentoo</STRONG> uses a plain-text configuration file. Unlike some other programs though, the file format used is highly structural: it's (almost) <STRONG>XML</STRONG>! Actually, since the code that loads the file definitely doesn't qualify as being a full-blown XML loader, the file isn't really XML either. But is sure looks like it... Basically, the file uses tags plus a case-convention to define a tree of values for all configuration options. </P> <P> You are <STRONG>not</STRONG> encouraged to edit around in this file by hand; let <STRONG>gentoo</STRONG> be the only entity reading and writing it! The loader code is fairly armored, but still far from bullet-proof, so don't provoke it by hacking the file. </P> </BODY> </HTML>
