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Hello,

as some of you may have already noticed I am keen on giving the system user=
s=20
more care. I think that in a connected computer world the system users are =
a=20
key concept that needs to be treated as first class thing. I learned it was=
=20
back in the beginnings of computing (Multics, Unix, etc.) but seems to have=
=20
ignored more or less in the last time due to the success of personal=20
computers with according operating systems, which were not centered around=
=20
connected (=3Dshared) ressources.

KDE is out to give *nixoide systems an easy to use GUI. So it should tightl=
y=20
integrate with all their concepts. Like the system users.

On many occasions in shared systems one would like to communicate with some=
=20
other user, like:
1) Some user puts heavy load on a system. Listing the process table the=20
culprit is found.
2) Some other user's file has the wrong rights.
3) I want to shutdown my computer but some other user is still connected to=
=20
it.
4) Please add yours.
Wouldn't it be nice if contact is e.g. only a RMB on the user's description=
=20
away? To phone, email,  messaging or whatever him?

How could this be achieved? For one I wonder why noone seems to have ever=20
thought of using one of the first of all addressbooks in the unix world, th=
e=20
entries in passwd (and .plan & .project)? Is it because NSS LDAP is the=20
answer for any bigger installation and connected to directly (help, I do no=
t=20
know much about NSS or LDAP)?=20

There is a class called KUser[0] which is based on the information hold in=
=20
passwd. But the information there is not guaranteed to help with a contact:=
=20
There might not be a valid email address build by the login name and the ho=
st=20
name, the phone entry might not be supported. Other information for e.g.=20
messaging is not even available. Then passwd is only one approach to=20
information about a user. Many bigger installation are IIUC based on NSS LD=
AP=20
where perhaps more information is given, like presence id, messaging addres=
s=20
etc. So it would be nice to have some backend which uses whatever informati=
on=20
source is available to deliver contact/presence* information about a system=
=20
user.

I thought about enhancing the KABC::StdAddressBook and give it some System=
=20
users resource. But does the KAddressbook system support mapping? What if o=
ne=20
has some other user already in his private addressbook? How could additiona=
l=20
contact information not delivered by the system be stored? And what would t=
he=20
API to request the address information of a local system user look like=20
(remote system user mapping would be nice to have one day, too)? While we a=
re=20
on it, how to integrate the system user face (the one used by kdm and=20
hopefully soon across KDE)?

Then it would be nice api-wise if one could request the information directl=
y=20
from KUser.

What I want is some system addressbook, with informations about the system=
=20
users. Think about it as the admin's addressbook of all his system users.=20
Perhaps with some optional personal adaption from a user point of view, lik=
e=20
with the kconfig system.

Please give me some input, thanks. I'm ready to work on this but need help.=
=20

* finger is dead?

[0] /kdelibs/kdecore/kuser.h

Regards
=46riedrich

PS: See=20
http://wiki.kde.org/tiki-index.php?page=3DUser+Concept for a start of more=
=20
rambling

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