KDE used to have a simple GUI (Kiosk) to create default settings and to lock down the desktop. You were then able to export those settings to other systems and this should be possible in a simpler and faster manner.

I have been a linux user since 1998, but I still find it somewhat odd that we do not realize how important tools such as these are in large organizations.

user-db
division
division-locks
company
company-locks

Alice’s profile would be: user-db, division, division-locks, company
Bob’s would be: user-db, company (he gets defaults without locks)
Carl would be: everything

Of course this is not what you were asking, I think the solution is that Alice, Bob, and Carl each have a different value set for DCONF_PROFILE in their bashrc or bash_aliases file:

export DCONF_PROFILE=/etc/dconf/profiles/boss

I’ve not tried that before, but I think it will work, can you let me know if you try it?

I have been able to figure out pretty much all of this, but there is one thing I have not been able to accomplish: create multiple profiles and apply a profile to select users.

For example, let’s say for our company:
- the Division should have the Flock wallpaper (locked);
- the Big Boss should have the wallpaper key unlocked, so he could select its favorite one;
- all other employees should have Murales (locked).

I guess this can be achieved by creating multiple Dconf profiles. For example, I would create a /etc/dconf/profiles/division profile, a /etc/dconf/profiles/boss profile and a /etc/dconf/profiles/employees profile. This way, for each profile, I could re-order which database has priority over the others and configure locks per profile.

But what I don’t know is how I can set a user “alice” to have a Division profile, a user “bob” a Boss profile and a user “carl” an Employee profile.

Do you have any clues on how this can be done?