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Contents

  1. A system administrators guide for GNOME
  2. Outdated content
    1. Content ideas (newer)
      1. User Settings
        1. Lockdown User Settings
        2. Pre-seed user defaults
        3. Pre-seed email/calendar/groupware
      2. Appearance
      3. Setup
      4. Login Settings
        1. Appearance
        2. Session management
      5. Network
        1. NetworkManager
        2. other
      6. Software
        1. Applications
        2. Extensions
        3. Management
      7. Troubleshooting/diagnosis
    2. Content ideas (older)
      1. Questions to answer

A system administrators guide for GNOME

The system administrators guide lives in the gnome-user-docs Git repository.

You can see an online version of it at: https://help.gnome.org/admin/system-admin-guide/stable/

You can find bug reports and feature requests in GNOME GitLab.

Outdated content

/!\ All content below on this very page is from 2012-2014.

Ideas and issues still valid should be transfered into GitLab issues.

Content ideas (newer)

Get Started with GNOME Administration

User Settings

Lockdown User Settings

Pre-seed user defaults

Pre-seed email/calendar/groupware

Appearance

Setup

Login Settings

Appearance

Session management

Network

NetworkManager

other

Software

Applications

Extensions

Management

Troubleshooting/diagnosis

Content ideas (older)

Just a braindump / brainstorming area.

Questions to answer

  1. What happened to ~/.xsession-errors ? That file was very handy to debug session problems, and I can't find it anymore

    • It is now located at ~/.cache/gdm/session.log. This change was made to comply with the XDG directories spec

  2. How can I set system-wide power management settings that users can't change (eg: Dim screens after X min)

    • This is controlled by the org.gnome.settings-daemon.plugins.power.idle-dim-time, idle-dim-ac and idle-dim-battery gsettings keys. See below for how to install and enforce system-wide custom values for gsettings keys.

  3. How can I set system-wide screen saver locking settings that users can't change (eg: Lock screens after X min)

    • This is controlled by the org.gnome.desktop.screensaver.lock-delay and lock-enabled gsettings keys. See below for how to install and enforce system-wide custom values for gsettings keys.

  4. How can I migrate users from GNOME 2 → GNOME 3 (without them getting mad at me)

    • This is a tough question for any change of this magnitude. It might help to offer them a GNOME shell extensions that bring back certain aspects of the GNOME 2 user experience. A good way to do so is the 'classic mode'

  5. How can gnome auto-remove user names from GDM screen (for users that haven't logged in since X days)

    • A crude way to achieve this is to rotate wtmp, since GDM is relying on wtmp to know which users have logged in. A better mechanism for this may appear at some point

  6. Which tool can I use to explore gsettings ?

    • dconf-editor is a graphical utility that lets you browse gsettings. The gsettings commandline utility does the same in a non-graphical way; it has very useful bash completion. Note that these tools always operate on the current users gsettings database, so you don't want to run it as root. Also, they require a D-Bus session bus in order to make any changes (since that requires activating the dconf daemon via D-Bus).

  7. Which tool can I use to create or modify dconf profiles ?

    • dconf comes with a commandline utility which is also called dconf for this purpose; it is very minimal.

  8. Which processes should I expect to see running in a pristine, stock GNOME session ?

    • dbus-daemon, gnome-session, gnome-shell, gnome-settings-daemon, pulseaudio, gnome-keyring-daemon. Depending on the users setup, you might also see various gvfs processes, goa-daemon, gnome-shell-calendar-server, various evolution factory processes, gsd-printer, gnome-screensaver, at-spi2-dbus-launcher, at-spi2-registryd, etc

  9. How do I install a custom default value for setting xyz for all my users ?
  10. How do I prevent users from changing the settings xyz ?
  11. How do I make extra backgrounds available to my users ?

    • Install an xml file describing your extra backgrounds in /usr/share/gnome-background-properties. Here is a small example: 

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE wallpapers SYSTEM "gnome-wp-list.dtd">
<wallpapers>
  <wallpaper deleted="false">
    <name>Company Background</name>
    <name xml:lang="de">Firmenhintergrund</name>
    <filename>/opt/corp/background.jpg</filename>
    <options>zoom</options>
    <shade_type>solid</shade_type>
    <pcolor>#ffffff</pcolor>
    <scolor>#000000</scolor>
  </wallpaper>
</wallpapers>

  1. How do I change the default background for new users ?

    • You can install an override for the org.gnome.desktop.background.picture-uri gsettings key. As an example, here is the file /usr/share/glib-2.0/schemas/org.gnome.desktop.background.fedora.gschema.override that is used in Fedora 17: 

[org.gnome.desktop.background]
picture-uri='file:///usr/share/backgrounds/beefy-miracle/default/beefy-miracle.xml'

  1. How do I make extra fonts available to my users ?

    • Copy the fonts into a subdirectory of /usr/share/fonts and run fc-cache

  2. GNOME used to be great with themes. What happened to that ?

    • GNOME 3 is focusing on a single, polished experience, and the focus is on making one high-quality theme. That being said, themes are still available via the 'user themes' gnome-shell extension. gnome-tweak-tool supports this extension, too.

  3. If I need to change the default users theme for a specific reason (eg. make the dark theme the default for a set of users), how do I do that?

    • See the previous answer, about the 'user themes' shell extension

  4. Where does the background image on the login screen come from ?

    • See the org.gnome.desktop.background.picture-uri gsettings key. Note that gdm uses its own DConf profile, the way to change settings in this profile is to place a keyfile in /etc/dconf/db/gdm.d and run dconf update. Here is an example for such a keyfile, could be stored as /etc/dconf/db/gdm.d/corp-login: 

[org/gnome/desktop/background]
picture-uri='file:///opt/corp/background.jpg'

Note that these DConf key files are slightly different from the gsettings override files mentioned earlier.

  1. And what about the background image on the lock screen ?

    • gnome-screensaver is running in the users session and uses the default value of the org.gnome.desktop.background.picture-uri gsettings key. To change the default, install an override

  2. I need my institute's logo to appear on the greeter. How ?

    • See the org.gnome.login-screen.logo gsettings key. Note that gdm uses its own DConf profile; the easiest way is to add this to the DConf keyfile mentioned earlier: 

[org/gnome/desktop/background]
picture-uri='file:///opt/corp/background.jpg'

[org/gnome/login-screen]
logo='/opt/corp/logo.png'

  1. Can I show a disclaimer text on the login screen ?

    • Yes, this is controlled by the settings org.gnome.login-screen.banner-message-enable and org.gnome.login-screen.banner-message-text. Note that gdm uses its own DConf profile; the easiest way is to add this to the DConf keyfile mentioned earlier

  2. How do I set up multiple keyboard layouts on the login screen ?

    • The greeter will show a layout chooser if more than one layout is configured in /etc/X11/xorg.conf

  3. Can I make certain users always appear in the user list ?
  4. Can I turn the user list off altogether ?

    • See the org.gnome.login-screen.disable-user-list gsettings key. Note that gdm uses its own DConf profile; the easiest way is to add this to the DConf keyfile mentioned earlier

  5. How do I enable my users to use fingerprints for login ?

    • See the org.gnome.login-screen.enable-fingerprint-authentication gsettings key. Note that gdm uses its own DConf profile; the easiest way is to add this to the DConf keyfile mentioned earlier

  6. What about smart cards ?

    • See the org.gnome.login-screen.enable-smartcard-authentication gsettings key. Note that gdm uses its own DConf profile; the easiest way is to add this to the DConf keyfile mentioned earlier

  7. Where is autologin information for each user stored ?

    • The accountsservice writes this into the gdm configuration in /etc/gdm/custom.conf; this may change

  8. How do I make multiple sessions appear on the login screen ?

    • The session chooser is shown if there is more than one desktop file in /usr/share/xsessions/

  9. Can I create a 'custom' session ?

    • Install a desktop file for your custom session in /usr/share/xsessions/. If your custom session is using gnome-session as session manager, you can give it a --session=mysession argument, and define the contents of your session in the file /usr/share/gnome-session/sessions/mysession.session. Here is an example, /usr/share/xsession/custom.desktop: 

[Desktop Entry]
Encoding=UTF-8
Type=Application
Name=Custom session
Name[de]=Spezial-Session
Comment=This is our custom session
Exec=gnome-session --session=mysession
TryExec=gnome-session

This would be used together with a session definition file /usr/share/gnome-session/sessions/mysession.session that looks like this: 

[GNOME Session]
Name=Custom session
Name[de]=Spezial-Session
RequiredComponents=my-window-manager;my-file-manager;my-custom-component;

Note that the names listed as RequiredComponents are expected to have desktop files behind them. E.g. there should be a /usr/share/applications/my-window-manager.desktop, and so on

  1. How can I run a certain application whenever a user logs in ?

    • Install an autostart file for the application in /etc/xdg/autostart/

  2. Can I give certain users a different session without making them choose it ?

    • The default session is determined by the Xsession key in the the /var/lib/AccountsService/users/<username> file

  3. How do I configure a user's home directory to support multiple versions of GNOME (over NFS or shared)?
  4. Can I allow certain users to configure printers, or install software ?
  5. How do I preconfigure VPN for all my users ?

    • NetworkManager stores system-wide connections in /etc/NetworkManager/system-connections - you can install your canned VPN connections there

  6. What do I do if a printer does not appear in the print dialog ?

    • Make sure cups is running; then check for firewall problems

  7. What do I do if sound does not work ?

    • Sound can be broken for a variety of reasons, so it is hard to say, but here is a number of things that are worth checking:

      • Is pulseaudio running ?
        Are there any sound-related warnings in the system logs ?
        Are the permissions of the sound devices getting set correctly ?
        Is the volume muted ?

  8. Extensions:
    1. How do I lock down access to extensions.gnome.org for my users?
    2. How do I mandate that the user can enable/disable extensions, but not install them
    3. How do I provide a set of extensions that the user have to use
  9. How do I make it easy for my users to access our file shares ?

    • nautilus stores a list of servers in ~/.config/nautilus/servers, and the list can be prepopulated there

  10. How do I make custom launchers (keyboard shortcuts) available ot all my users ?
2024-10-23 11:04