Note: the following bug applies to GNOME as a whole, not just GConf.  Further discussion and work will no doubt be required before a suitable implementation can be decided upon.

By default GNOME creates a number of different configuration files and directories in a user's $HOME directory.  I count at least the following:

Files: .dmrc .gtk-bookmarks
Directories: .config .gconf .gconfd .gnome2 .gnome2_private .gstreamer-0.10 .gvfs .nautilus

Future versions of GNOME should store ALL configuration settings in a single directory (e.g. $HOME/.config).  This is in line with the longer-term goals of the freedesktop.org config specification (http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Specifications/config-spec).

I can see the following benefits to moving towards a single config directory:

- makes backup/restore more straightforward
- improved security (e.g. chmod 0700 $HOME/.config)
- allows users to use version control on their config files
- remove unnecessary clutter from $HOME