OpenOffice.org has mechanisms that allow it to share some settings with its 
englobing environment (Windows, KDE, GNOME, ...). Examples are the name of the 
preferred email program, proxy settings, or accessibility settings. This way, 
the user needs not reconfigure in OpenOffice.org something that she/he already 
configured in his working environment. 
 
These system-wide settings are described in a specification available at 
http://specs.openoffice.org/appwide/system_settings/System-Settings.odt. 
 
Some new settings have recently been added which are enabled only in "lockdown 
mode". Lockdown mode is controlled by --enable-lockdown flag and allows to 
restrain functionality of OpenOffice.org, for example for computers of public 
access. 
 
Some of these new settings might be of general interest, i.e. not only in 
lockdown mode. Examples might be the name of the user or the preferred web 
client. The new settings are not documented yet in the specification. 
 
The decision of which settings should be made general and which ones should 
remain reserved to lockdown mode is not obvious. 
- First reason is the special way that OpenOffice.org handles some settings 
and that might prevent from picking it up in the environment. 
- Second reason is the information available in the environment itself, which 
might or might not be adapted to the needs of OpenOffice.org. 
 
The following should therefore be done: 
1. establish a list of the settings that should become general and of the ones 
that should remain restrained to lockdown mode 
2. update the online specification accordingly 
3. implement the result in shell/sources/backends for each environment 
(Windows, KDE, GNOME, ...).