I've got a head-scratcher for you ...

... regarding F18, Gnome, e16 and some really flaky configuration behavior.

Here's The 411:

• New F18 install to SSD
• Installed Gnome <..:Y..>
• Then installed e16
• Logged into e16
• Installed favorite theme
• Configured preferences to suit
• Logged out
• Logged back in
• All config information had been ignored in favor of a new set of default configurations.

Rinse, repeat.

Other pertinent observations:

• Any and all user accounts -- including root -- are affected
• SELinux set to permissive. No change
• Logging out, and using tty2 to delete the added configuration files will not work. It simply writes new defaults on logging in -- BUT -- the new ones have incremented ID numbers. ie, previous deleted files ID value +1.
• Deleting those files, then rebooting will make e16 respect the older configuration files ... once.
• .e16 folder has exactly the same permissions (in fact, I have inserted the actual replacement directory) as the other correctly functioning F18/e16 (32 bit) system. It works once, then corrupts.
• Selected theme (default or otherwise) makes no difference. Any config data is ignored. Defaults are written and used.

The only three differences between the working system, and the corrupting systems are:

• One is 32 bit, the other 64.
• Gnome is installed on the corrupting system. (Main)
• Mate is installed on the other (Entertainment System)
• The functioning system is installed to an HDD
• The corrupting system is installed to an SSD.

(I seriously don't think either the 64/32 bit or HDD/SSD differences amount to a hill of beans in this. I have cross-pollinated the user .e16 files both ways, and the results are the same. Entertainment Center e16/MATE systems works okey dokey, Main e16/Gnome corrupts.)

What experimentation and research has boiled down to:

• Something is keeping track of e16 logins, and incrementing the writing of erroneous default config files
• Otherwise, e16 functions as expected ... and does so quicker than greased owl sh...tuff!
• That "something" only resets with a full reboot. -- Which means it's got to be a config file of some kind hidden somewhere.
• Killing all things e16 in gnome-system-manager makes no difference. Only a reboot clears the problem, provided you delete the erroneous files in .e16 first. (And ... a reboot at that point is required, for if you kill e16 from within e16, it craters X, and GDM never restarts, and everything keyboard except [ctrl]+[alt]+[del] seems disabled/non-functional.)
• The problem does not effect any other system upon which I run e16/Gnome -- but they are F16 and F17 systems.

So ... howz dat for a hedskritcher? <..:confused:..>