[CentOS] Change system-wide default configuration for FF and OO with /etc/skel

Mon Nov 30 17:15:23 UTC 2009
Niki Kovacs <contact at kikinovak.net>

Hi,

I'm using a heavily tweaked CentOS 5.4 for desktop installs (here's what 
it looks like: http://www.microlinux.fr/captures.html).

For every app I install, I try to configure a sensible default 
configuration system-wide for all users. For example, once I found a 
nice configuration for XMMS (default skin, loads of plugins, orange On 
Screen Display in a nice font, etcetera), I put my whole ~/.xmms in 
/etc/skel, so that every new user on the system will have the same 
default configuration. I have a script which does that for most of the 
applications I install for users. Even my GNOME desktop is heavily 
tweaked, and similarly, there's a default /etc/skel/.gconf for this.

Now I have two annoyances remaining: Firefox and OpenOffice.org. When 
installing both of these (Firefox from the CentOS repos, OpenOffice.org 
from the RPMS contained in openoffice.org's tarball), the default 
configuration for each one (in ~/.mozilla and ~/.openoffice.org) takes 
no less than 3 MB, which I find a bit puzzling. Since I keep all my 
default configurations in an SVN tree, I find this a bit heavy.

For Firefox, I only change a couple of options (like "Close download 
manager after finishing downloading" and "always ask where to store a 
file"). Similarly, for OpenOffice.org, I change things like 
auto-completion (so users won't call me on a sunday morning asking "Why 
does it try to finish my sentences?").

I guess the "real" configuration must be some small plain text file. But 
then, where? Is there a way not to upload the whole 3 MB of configuration?

Cheers,

Niki