Optionally hide user name in indicator session menu

[Oben Sonne]

Binary package hint: indicator-applet

Currently the indicator applet session menu shows my chat status and my user name. Since I'm the only user of my system, this information is redundant and it occupies horizontal panel space (which is rare in my case). I think a lot of systems are used by one person only. Even if there are some 2 or 3 users, it is questionable if one needs to see the user name in the panel to know which user currently is active.

I would prefer an option in the applet's preferences to hide the user name.

Thanks,
Oben

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 10.04
Package: indicator-applet-session 0.3.7-0ubuntu1
Uname: Linux 2.6.34-020634rc6-generic i686
Architecture: i386
Date: Mon Jul 12 09:52:43 2010
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 10.04 LTS "Lucid Lynx" - Release i386 (20100429)
SourcePackage: indicator-applet

[David Barth (dbarth)]

Document the gconf key

[August Sodora (augsod)]

I'm not aware of any gconf key...

I have prevented the username from displaying on my build and I am fairly confident I can make it an option if this is the direction you guys want to go in.

[Mihai Capotă (mihaic)]

The gconf key is /system/indicator/me/display. The values I tested are
0 - no text
1 - user name
2 - full name

I've seen this on Ubuntu StackExchange:
http://ubuntu.stackexchange.com/questions/4743/how-do-i-replace-the-memenu-username-with-my-actual-name/4746#4746

[Danté (dante-ashton)]

I'm the asker of aforementioned question; might I also ask an option (if not the default) to actually have the user's name, and not their username, as the default?

Not only is it slightly annoying, it is also angering a few neighbors of mine whose non-english names are causing the system to accidently insult the!

[Omer Akram (om26er)]

this bug is fixed in Maverick as now we have a gconf-key

[Oben Sonne (obensonne)]

Good news, thanks!

[Mihai Capotă (mihaic)]

Omer Akram, could you please tell us what the gconf key that fixes this bug is?

If you are referring to /system/indicator/me/display, it still not present by default in Maverick (so it's also not documented by a schema). It is definitely not a good way for regular users to hide the username.

Note that the original plans for the MeMenu included the possibility to customize the title via the About Me window:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/MeMenu#Title

[Omer Akram (om26er)]

I see that gconf-key here in Maverick. from comment#2 this bug in Maverick atleast is fixed with a gconf-key in future the about window might be altered.

[Mihai Capotă (mihaic)]

I rechecked with the Live session and with a new user account. The /system/indicator/me/display key is not present in a default Maverick install.

Of course, adding the key manually works. But there is no documentation (I don't think documentation in a bug report counts). I believe that was the point of comment 2, i.e., creating a schema for the key.

[Omer Akram (om26er)]

I did not add it myself and in my case it was there.

[Mihai Capotă (mihaic)]

Would you please test with the Live image or by creating a new user account? What does the key description say?

[Mihai Capotă (mihaic)]

I still don't see any documentation for the gconf key in Maverick.

[MN (istheendnigh)]

The key works, but as well as removing the name it also removes the status icon and the me menu, leaving only the session button. I would like to hide my name but keep the me menu and status icon. Is that possible?

[Eric Swanson (eswanson)]

If anyone had the same problem as MN above, just kill and restart the gnome-panel (or log out and back in).

[sdaau (sd-imi)]

Just to note - in Lucid that gconf key doesn't exist by default, but manually running 'gconftool -s /system/indicator/me/display --type int 0' still works..

[Oben Sonne (obensonne)]

Great, the switch works as expected (using Maverick). However, it should be visible in gconf-editor by default.

[Omer Akram (om26er)]

username functionality moved to indicator-session

[Jeremy Bícha (jbicha)]

Hi, I'm marking this bug invalid since it was partially fixed for Maverick & Natty. The package should have included a gconf schema to make it easier for users to set this option but an update for that will not be released for Maverick & Natty. In Oneiric (Ubuntu 11.10), the functionality was completely changed. To discuss this for Ubuntu 11.10, please see bug 812728.