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I am setting up Ubuntu 12.04 with Gnome3 for a computer lab. I don't want the users to be able to change the background of the computer. Is there a way to prevent this? Or to revert the background back when the computer reboots?

jippie
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nattlap
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1 Answers1

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The new dconf has options for lockdown and also has an example (where they use the wallpaper ;)) on the dconf system admin page:

Lockdown

Lockdown is supported by creating a 'locks' subdirectory in the keyfile directory (ie: /etc/dconf/db/local.d/locks). The files contained in this directory contain a list of keys to lock, one per line. Just as with the keyfiles, you may add any number of files to this directory. Here's an example of what one might look like:

# prevent changes to the company wallpaper
/org/gnome/desktop/background/picture-uri

Of course, you need to run the 'dconf update' tool after changing the locks. The tool will notice if the timestamp on the 'locks' directory has changed, so there is no need to touch the ".d" directory as well.

Presently (as of dconf 0.7.4) lockdown is only supported on a per-key basis. Put another way: you may not yet lock entire subpaths. This is for performance reasons, but there are plans to address this in future releases.

Rinzwind
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  • Thanks for the quick response. I will check it out and let you know. – nattlap Apr 23 '12 at 14:47
  • This is incomplete. It does not work if you don't use a custom profile to add a system db where to add lock keys. Look at my answer https://askubuntu.com/a/1034238/350004 – solsTiCe May 10 '18 at 09:46