Desktop info lost after a 'soft' crash

[William Roberts;]

In <1417 at ucl-cs.uucp> J.Purchase at cs.ucl.ac.uk (Jan Purchase) writes:


>1) Why is it that when I log in under another account that has read
>permission on my home directory and I examine that directory with the
>Finder, that the layout is as the default (all large icons, black, in some
>weird order, with a blank in the top left icon space). Yet when I log in
>under my account the layout is once again as I'd set it.

The desktop for the "/" volume is handled by the Desktop Manager using files 
in the System Folder, but the "desktop" itself - position of disk icons, 
folders etc on the desktop, is stored in a subdirectory $HOME/.desk with one 
file per hostname. As two different users, you get two different home 
directories and so two different .desk directories. This might not answer your 
question, but it is what I know on the subject and might give you some clues.

>2) More irksome. Why after a soft crash (CommandShell dies due to a Finder
>crash and A/UX logs you out) is all this desktop info revert to the
>default!! I'm really cheesed off with having to re-arrange my icons every
>time I or some other user soft-crashes the machine (doesn't happend too
>often, but often enough).

The file structures used are not at all robust - it is easy to ruin the whole 
desktop database as well as your preferred settings.
--

William Roberts                 ARPA: liam at cs.qmw.ac.uk
Queen Mary & Westfield College  UUCP: liam at qmw-cs.UUCP
Mile End Road                   AppleLink: UK0087
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