How Can I Change Gnome Panel Handle?

Some say gnome is not easily configurable. Some say many of the gnome elements are hard-coded. I never bought this until lately when I could not change the gnome panel handle.

Knowledgeable gnome gurus please guide me how to change gnome panel handle or tell me where that panel handle icon is located. I just could not hit where that panel handle png or svg file resides. If I get it I will replace it with a transparent image cos I don't like panel handles.

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Good heavens! At last I found a fix to change the default gnome panel handle. It's like this:

create a text file ".gtkrc-2.0" (without quotes) in your /home/user (in my case it is /home/manmath) directory, and place the following text in it.

style "handle"
{
engine "pixmap"
{
image
{
function = HANDLE
file = ".pixel.png"
border = { 0, 0, 0, 0 }
stretch = TRUE
orientation = VERTICAL
}
image
{
function = HANDLE
file = ".pixel.png"
border = { 0, 0, 0, 0 }
stretch = TRUE
orientation = HORIZONTAL
}
}
}
class "PanelAppletFrame" style "handle"

The above configuration text replaces your panel handle with .pixel.png file. You can change the file name as you like. Here I have created a transparent hidden image file .pixel.png (to get rid of that ugly handle) in my /home/user directory.

Now I am happy with transparent gnome panel handle.