notions of unifying configuration

[Digit]

(really wasnt sure where to post this half baked blue-sky idea)
(no really, wasnt even sure which forum to post it in, n when i got here... wm, ot, suggestions, or...   idk.)

it all started with a thought... posted as an action in an irc chan not long ago...

* digit ponders having his system configured effectively entirely with custom environment variables, so all configs merely point to the enviroment variables, and then one has all the unixy goodness power to it all the more, or even just to consolidate into one config

idea came from thinking about how to set up a twin gtk config that'd be on a timer, and manually toggle-able.  then thinking, what about all the non-gtk .... say you've got an emacs config, and a tint2, and a conky, and a tilda, and a tickr.... and whatever else that uses some kind of unique colour configuration non-standardisation.

so how would i be able to go about having my night/day colour configs work for all those non gtk apps too?   that toggle has to change everything, or it defeats the point.

at first i thought, maybe some complex convoluded script with the static locations in all the configs kept track off, and sed, awk, grep, replace the shit out of them....


then i thought, what a stupid amount of work... cant they all just be pointing to variables that you can cleanly edit in a consolidated sensible expedient clear manner?


...



let that sink in for a moment if you want.  what that would be like....



...



...



*nods intensely*

  anyone with me on this?  get it?   makes sense right?  seems too simple tho, no?  surely some mad genius had already thought of this...     surely there's some reason this is not already so, as the norm across configs everywhere in all distros...

i imagine there's likely already limitations with many specific application's non-standard config just not even being smart enough for that sort of thing.  .... or are none of them smart enough for that?  o_O



of course, even if one is completely uninterested in the initial notion ~ of a day/night config toggle, for visibility in high light, and reducing glare in darkness ~, the ability to consolidate and unify your colour theme across all apps is sure to be an easy sell for most of you. 

...at least for those of you who have experienced the displeasure of having tweaked some colour config to perfection-for-that-moment, then see the other apps dotted around that have no clue about your brilliance in that other supposedly more system-wide config.

desktop environments try to prevent this in their own closed pockets... but idea that they're a closed system the devs have perfect control over to create the perfect paradise for its users is an illusion i doubt anyone can seriously hold for long... there will always be something else that needs to be installed but refuses to play with this desktop environment's paradigm, because, frankly it wasnt created by the de's devs, or with any thought to limiting itself to only this desktop environment  (well... some apps do, but you know what i mean).

so desktop environments didnt really solve the problem, only created another example of xkcd 927.



lets go back, not forwards then.  dont build on, build under.  er... no, that could easily be misinterpreted and misconstrewed.  (shows my spell checker is off, i know ~ as if you wouldnt have noticed "convoluded" earlier, and the rest. )

just go to the unixy goodness i mean.  get a d.e.-agnostic, distro-agnostic, more core n fundamental means...

or am i barking up the wrong tree with this notion?




[right before posting]
woah, triple dejavu... i think i've had this idea recurring every few years, then forgotten about until i start to understand things better and get closer to a way to implement...  this feels like i'm pretty close this time.   if it doesnt get implemented this time... next time i come up with this idea, for sure.  XD

PS my forum original-posts like this are always better than my blog.  XD