Man page 8 : update-gconf-defaults

update-gconf-defaults - generate GConf defaults shipped in Debian packages

update-gconf-defaults [options]

This manual page documents briefly the

update-gconf-defaults command.

update-gconf-defaults is responsible for generating defaults used by GConf from the files found in /usr/share/gconf/defaults .

The syntax of files in this directory consists in lines containing the key name, some white space, and the key value, which can be an integer, a boolean, a float, a string or a list of strings. Example:

/apps/myprogram/frob_number 42
/apps/myprogram/do_foo true
/apps/myprogram/priority 1.25
/apps/myprogram/name "Gotcha !"
/apps/myprogram/names [Ha ha!,Let's keep serious,Ho ho!]

Files are processed in alphabetical order. Files processed later take precedence over the previous ones if they include the same defaults. Thus, it is recommended to name them NN _ package with NNbeing a 2-digit number and packagethe package name. It is recommended to set NNas 10 for packages in the Debian archive, 20 for derived distributions, 50 for CDD distributions, and 90 for site-specific packages.

--source\fR \fIsource_dir
    Specify an alternate source directory where to find the defaults.

--destination\fR \fIdestination_dir
    Specify an alternate destination directory where to build the resulting GConf tree.

--mandatory

    Sets source and destination directories appropriate for the mandatory values.

• /usr/share/gconf/defaults/
      The directory from which defaults files are read.
• /usr/share/gconf/mandatory/
      The directory from which defaults files for mandatory settings are read.
• /var/lib/gconf/debian.defaults
      The directory where the GConf tree for default settings is generated. It is read by GConf with the default Debian configuration, and it takes precedence over upstream defaults.
• /var/lib/gconf/debian.mandatory
      The directory where the GConf tree for mandatory settings is generated. It is read by GConf with the default Debian configuration, and it takes precedence over user settings.

R dh_gconf (1), gconftool (1).

Josselin Mouette <>.