[Kde-kiosk] Is there anybody there? :-) [RFC]

[Sean McGlynn]

On Monday 04 March 2002 23:56, Waldo Bastian wrote:
> [And yet again, this time _with_ the promised attachment]
>
> On Monday 04 March 2002 04:29 pm, Sean McGlynn wrote:
> > Hello,
> >
> > Just found this list by accident and noticed that it hadn't actually been
> > used since a brief flurry of postings last October. I was wondering if it
> > was still the place for discussion of 'locking down' KDE issues?
>
> Yes, it has been a bit quiet but that shouldn't stop you :-)
It won't stop me. I'll just have to see if I can encourage a few other souls 
to join to make it more lively :-)

> > Waldo (if you're there), I read part one of your "Support for kiosk
> > operation" draft, and noticed you've got a TODO against KDE3.1 for all
> > this stuff. Did you ever write a part two or have you got any other
> > general info on all this?
>
> Yes, in kdelibs/kdecore there is a file README.kiosk that has been updated
> from time to time. I will attach the latest version for your convenience.
Thanks. I like the bit about locking down the desktop and kicker by making 
the *rc files immutable. That's just what Janyne was asking about. Do I 
understand correctly that making any particular application's rc file 
immutable will prevent changes applied to the app from "sticking" (providing 
they use the standard KConfig method of accessing config info)? I tried 
Konqueror and this seems to be the case. Or is it only apps that have been 
amended in some way to take notice of the new KConfig setup? Are there any 
apps that read from $KDEHOME/share/config files directly thus bypassing the 
immutability set further up in the $KDEDIRS chain?

Also, Janyne wanted to lock down the K menu. Is there a config file I missed 
somewhere that would allow this, or is it a matter of trying to lock down the 
$KDEHOME/share/applnk directory in its entirety, by making it read-only in 
some way (ACL's or whatever). What's the plan for implementing immutability 
of directories; another *rc file or an option group in kdeglobals perhaps?

> Apart from "authorizeURLAction(QString, referringURL, destinationURL)"
> everything described there is part of KDE 3.0. This is pretty much the
> basics though. In later versions of KDE I hope to use this in more places
> in KDE, ideally based on feedback from people who actually use it.
>
> There should also come some sort of GUI tool to set this stuff up somewhen.
GUI's are good :-) The busy sysadmin doesn't want to play around with dozens 
(hundreds?!) of config files if they can help it.

> > However, it would be nicer to have a specific mailing list (and possibly
> > a kiosk.kde.org site) to discuss all the issues/questions raised, in
> > order to cut down the
> > signal/noise ratio on the more general lists. I'd obviously be happy to
> > help out, doing documentation and perhaps maintaining the site or
> > whatever, as I'm interested in this area.
>
> This list would be appropriate for that. As far as website, there is
> enterprise.kde.org and I think that would be a good place to host
> additional information.
I had a look at enterprise.kde.org but I felt it was more for the "end 
product" rather than the nitty gritty of configuration, with no disrespect to 
Jono. I was thinking more of a dedicated "this is how you do it" site, 
without anything else to distract. White papers etc. would still be put on 
Jono's site though of course. Put it another way, I think of 
enterprise.kde.org as being for CEO's and other suits, whilst I envisage 
kiosk.kde.org as being more for sysadmins and other lesser mortals :-) If you 
still think Jono's site would be best though, I'll contact him.

> [Snip]
>
> >  I'm sorry, I was just re-reading your note and I realized that I did not
> >  respond to your question about our environment.  1300 users on 100
> >  servers (all remote) located in 100 counties throughout the state.
> >  These servers are on slow links mostly (56k to 128k to T1 lines) -- thus
> >  the one server per site model booting from the server with diskless
> >  xterminals.  We have only 2.5 fulltime support people for these sites so
> >  simple is good.
> >  </quote>
> >
> > Comments please.
>
> Sounds very cool :-)
It does doesn't it :-)
I was going to ask Janyne to write up a little overview of their project, 
time permitting. It would be great to get the bigger picture rather than the 
little snippets gathered from the mailing list, and it'd make it much easier 
to answer questions.

> I would love to hear improvement suggestions from projects like these.
> (Which reminds me, I still need to add a "No custom wallpaper" switch for
> the City of Largo :-)
Doesn't locking down kdesktop achieve that?

> Cheers,
> Waldo
Cheers,
Sean
-- 
Sean McGlynn
sean@tmiau.com

BGITSOS