Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!samsung!rex!ames!uhccux!waikato!ldo
From: ldo@waikato.ac.nz (Lawrence D'Oliveiro, Waikato University)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.system
Subject: Re: Are Multiple Desktops Bad?
Message-ID: <2419.275a1e33@waikato.ac.nz>
Date: 2 Dec 90 20:43:15 GMT
References: <4489@manta.UUCP>
Distribution: comp
Organization: University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand
Lines: 31

The Finder will only create one Desktop file per volume, and it always
creates it at the root of the volume.

Those extra Desktop files you see appear because those folders appear
as volumes on the machines which mount them. The Finder on the Mac that
is publishing those folders will never make use of those extra Desktop files.

The potential for inconsistencies arises because those multiple desktop
databases may contain information about the same files. For example,
if the published folder contains an application, then there will be
an entry for that application in two desktop databases, one created by
the machine publishing the folder, and one by the machine mounting it.
If one user trashes the application, the other database may not be
correctly updated.

I don't think these inconsistencies are a big problem. The Finder
seems robust enough to handle all kinds of odd situations like this.
In short, I wouldn't worry about it.

The one situation that worries me at all is the one where you
publish an entire volume. In this case, the Finder on the machine
which mounts the volume would (it would appear) end up using the
same Desktop file as the one on the publishing machine. I'm not
sure how TOPS handles this.

Anybody else care to comment?

Lawrence D'Oliveiro                       fone: +64-71-562-889
Computer Services Dept                     fax: +64-71-384-066
University of Waikato            electric mail: ldo@waikato.ac.nz
Hamilton, New Zealand    37^ 47' 26" S, 175^ 19' 7" E, GMT+13:00