9.15 Managing Profiles Using Sabayon
Sabayon is a system administration tool you can use to create
and apply desktop environment profiles. A profile is a collection of
default settings and restrictions that can be applied to either
individual users or groups of users. Sabayon lets you edit GConf
defaults and mandatory keys using a graphical tool.
Profile definition is done through a graphical session similar
to the one a user would be running, only inside a desktop window. You
can change properties (such as the desktop background, toolbars, and
available applets) in the usual way. Sabayon also detects changes to
the default settings in most desktop applications.
Files or documents that are left in the simulated home directory
or on the desktop are included in the finished profile. This includes
many application-specific databases, such as Tomboy notes. Using this
mechanism, it's easy to supply introductory notes or templates in a
manner easily accessible to new users.
A user profile can inherit its settings from a parent profile,
overriding or adding specific values. This enables hierarchical sets
of settings. For example, you can define an Employee profile and
derive Artist and Quality Assurance profiles from that.
In addition to providing defaults, Sabayon can also lock down
settings. This makes the setting resistant to change by users. For
instance, you can specify that the desktop background cannot be
changed to something other than the default you provide. It prevents
casual tampering with settings, potentially reducing the number of
helpdesk calls, and enabling kiosk-like environments. However, it
does not provide absolute security and should not be relied on for
such.
Sabayon also provides a list of settings for applications and
generic user interface elements that have built-in lockdown support,
including Epiphany, OpenOffice.org, and the GNOME panel. For example,
the panel can be set up to allow only specific applets to be added to
it and prevent changing its location or size on the screen. Likewise,
the Save menu items can be disabled across all applications that use
it, preventing users from saving documents.
The profiles are transferable to other computers. They reside in
/etc/opt/gnome/desktop-profiles/,
and each profile is saved in a separate ZIP file.
9.15.1 Creating a Profile
Profiles are saved in ZIP files located in
/etc/opt/gnome/desktop-profiles.
Each profile you save is stored in a separate ZIP file as
name-of-the-profile.zip.
You can copy or move profiles to other computers.
-
Click .
-
If you are not logged in as root, type the root password and
then click .
-
Click .
-
Specify a name for the profile, then click
.
-
Select the profile, then click .
A new desktop session opens in an Xnest window.
-
In the Xnest window, make the changes to the settings that
you want.
Each setting you change appears in the Xnest window.
You can choose to make each setting mandatory (click ), to ignore a setting (click ), or make a setting default (don’t
selecting either or
).
-
To lock settings for users, click in the Xnest window.
You can choose from the following options:
-
To save the profile, click .
The profile is saved in
/etc/opt/gnome/desktop-profiles.
-
Click to close the Xnest window, then click
to exit Sabayon.
9.15.2 Applying a Profile
You can apply a profile to individual users or to all users on
a workstation.
-
Click .
-
If you are not logged in as root, type the root password and
then click .
-
Select the profile you want to apply, then click
.
-
Select the users you want to use this profile.
To apply this profile to all users on this workstation, click
.
-
Click .
