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0e1f616
(Get the code!)
>What is a preference?
Preferences are not JavaScript variables. Preferences are stored in a (more or
less) human readable form which is parsed by the JavaScript parser. Some day we
would like to remove this dependency because JavaScript is overkill for this
need (and opens us up to security issues.)
>Prefernce load order: That should be PreferEnce ;)
Again preferences are not JavaScript variables, but they will be resolved in
favor of the last entry read... unless locking (AutoConfig) is involved. Let's
not go there just now...
I don't really understand item 3 "Use default, hard-coded value for prefs".
Assuming that a value exists in *any* preference file, it will override any
value set in the code.
>Because prefs.js is loaded last... changes to a profile should made to the
prefs.js.
prefs.js is a generated file. Users should not be messing with it unless they
are absolutely certain of what they are doing.
"user.js" is actually the last file loaded. This file is only read in and never
written out, and is where the user should be installing their own personal
preferences (the default homepage is a common one). This way user can create a
new profile, drag their "user.js" file into it, and immediately be in a familiar
environment. The other advantage is that you can have comments or commented out
preferences in user.js and they won't be purged the next time the file is
written out.
>Modifying preference files:
Again, users shouldn't really be mucking about in prefs.js.
>Systems administrators can modify <mozilla>
System Administrators would generally use AutoConfig to do this sort of thing
(through CCK). Hacking individual installations is tedious.
>Care should be taken in modifying values in the "default/prefs" files...
If you (and here you means a developer) changes a value in "default/prefs", that
becomes the new default. If that value is set to the same value that is in
prefs.js, then yes, the value will be removed from prefs.js the next time it is
saved. If, however, you change the value from "0" to "3", and prefs.js has a
user value of "1", the user value will remain in effect because it is *not* the
same as the default value.