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I'm trying to understand how Gconf, Dconf and Gsettings works and what the relationship is between them.

All I know is:

  • Gconf - XML based database (backend system). the older one.
  • Dconf - BLOB based database (backend system). the newer one.
  • Gsettings - CLI tool to edit settings. looks like it works only with Dconf (although i saw somewhere that it might work with Gconf).

I know that for Gconf there is a GUI - Gconf-editor, and for Dconf - Dconf-editor.

So:

  1. Which backend system is more often used - Dconf or Gconf?
  2. Gsettings works with both of them? and why doesn't it show all Dconf schemas?
  3. Where does Dconf save its data?
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2 Answers

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GConf is obsolete. It is the older GNOME 2.x configuration API and system, and has been replaced by DConf/GSettings in newer versions. However, some applications still use it.

GSettings is a GLib implementation of DConf, which stores its data in a binary database.

The gsettings command line tool is simply a tool to access or modify settings via the GSettings API, in the same way that the older gconftool command line tool is for GConf.

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Is GSettings works with GConf also? – idgar Jan 31 at 18:05
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No, GSettings is an implementation of the DConf spec. The command line tool doesn't work with gconf. There are however, some compatibility layers currently in use on Ubuntu, where changing a setting in gsettings or gconf, will result in the change being propagated to the other. This isn't common though, and not something to rely on. – dobey Jan 31 at 18:39
another thing,i saw somewhere that GSettings works with configuration files. is there something about it? and why does GSettings doesn't show the same schemas as DConf-editor? – idgar Feb 3 at 14:30
GSettings doesn't work with configuration files. You could theoretically write a back-end for GSettings that uses configuration files, and configure it to use that, though. As for different schemas, I don't know what you're talking about. – dobey Feb 3 at 23:56
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Dconf is a data store designed for storing configuration. It is the replacement for Gconf, which was used for the same purpose. Eventually, no programs should depend on Gconf any more.

Gsettings is a development library used to read and write to a configuration store backend. On Linux, it uses Dconf, but on Windows, it uses the registry, and on OS X, it uses a native data store.

Application developers and end-users are recommended to use Gsettings, not Dconf directly.

See also:

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" Gconf is a data store designed for storing configuration. It is the replacement for Gconf " did you mean Dconf is the replacement for Gconf? – Seth Jan 31 at 17:38
@Seth: yes, nice catch. – Flimm Jan 31 at 17:39

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