DCONF(1)

NAME
dconf - Simple tool for manipulating a dconf database

SYNOPSIS

dconf read [-d] KEY

dconf list DIR

dconf write KEY VALUE

dconf reset [-f] PATH

dconf compile OUTPUT KEYFILEDIR

dconf update [DBDIR]

dconf watch PATH

dconf dump DIR

dconf load [-f] DIR

dconf help [COMMAND]

DESCRIPTION

The dconf program can perform various operations on a dconf database, such as reading or writing individual values or entire directories. This tool operates on dconf directly, without using gsettings schema information. Therefore, it cannot perform type and consistency checks on values. The gsettings(1) utility is an alternative if such checks are needed.

The DIR arguments must be directory paths (starting and ending with '/'), the KEY arguments must be key paths (starting, but not ending with '/') and the PATH arguments can be either directory or key paths.

The OUTPUT argument must the location to write a (binary) dconf database to and the KEYFILEDIR argument must be a .d directory containing keyfiles.

VALUE arguments must be in GVariant format, so e.g. a string must include explicit quotes: "'foo'". This format is also used when printing out values.

Note that dconf needs a D-Bus session bus connection to write changes to the dconf database.

COMMANDS

read
    Read the value of a key. Use -d to print the default value rather than the user-set value.

list
    List the sub-keys and sub-directories of a directory.

write
    Write a new value to a key.

reset
    Reset a key or an entire directory. For directories, -f must be specified.

compile
    Compile a binary database from keyfiles.

    The result is always in little-endian byte order, so it can be safely installed in 'share'. If it is used on a big endian machine, dconf will automatically byteswap the contents on read.

update
    Update the system dconf databases.

watch
    Watch a key or directory for changes.

dump
    Dump an entire subpath to stdout. The output is in a keyfile-like format, with values in GVariant syntax.

load
    Populate a subpath from stdin. The expected format is the same as produced by dump. Attempting to change non-writable keys cancels the load command. To ignore changes to non-writable keys instead, use -f.

help
    Display help and exit. If COMMAND is given, display help for this command.

ENVIRONMENT

DCONF_PROFILE
    This environment variable determines which dconf profile to use. See dconf(7).

SEE ALSO

dconf(7), gsettings(1), dconf-editor(1)