Guidelines for configuring the Graphical Environment

You should observe the following guidelines whenever you modify the Graphical Environment configuration:

• It is recommended that you first copy the original version of a configuration file to another name (for example, .pmwmrc.old). This gives you an easily accessible backup copy that can be restored if you make a serious error or decide you want to return to the default configuration.

• Superuser (root) privileges are necessary to modify system configuration files. Users, however, can modify their personal configuration files that are located in their home directories.

• All Graphical Environment configuration files provide at least one version of the file that can be customized by users and another version of the file that defines the defaults for the system.
  

• It is a matter of local policy whether the administrator modifies users' configuration files or whether users are responsible for maintaining their own files. If the administrator is responsible for maintaining many users' files and wants to keep them all identical, it may be useful to link files with the standard UNIX^® system ln(C) command. Linking configuration files allows the administrator to edit one file and effectively change the contents of several users' files. If you link configuration files, change the permissions so that users cannot edit them. However, if individual users are customizing their own environments, configuration files should not be linked.

• The names that are used for the various configuration files can be changed through resources, specified in an .Xdefaults-hostname file. This guide refers to the default pathnames and filenames for these files. It is recommended that you do not change these names.