Now there is an mechanism for incorporating a set of default preferences into the initial Global Settings preference database/repository, at build time.
The default initial preference database is //dev/alp/platform/libraries/global_settings/default_db/prefs
The method to do this is,
in Scratchbox,
cd <your Perforce checkout dir>/platform/libraries/global_settings/default_db
either manually insert your entries into the file default_prefs.xml in this directory, or create a symbolic link to your original XML file (assuming in your app directory) or making a copy, in the subdirectory pref_xmls for example, for the locale manager, the step would be
cd <your Perforce checkout dir>/platform/libraries/global_settings/default_db/pref_xmls ln -s ../../../localemgr/localedata_*xml . p4 add localedata_*xml
After creating the links or appropriately updating the default_prefs.xml file, still in Scratchbox,
cd <your Perforce checkout dir>/platform/libraries/global_settings/default_db
p4 open prefs
LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/opt/alp/lib:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH /opt/alp/bin/add_to_default_prefs --rebuild prefs default_prefs.xml pref_xmls/*xml
p4 submit
Note that now the prefs file becomes a purely derivative of the source XML files and it is to be erased and rebuilt every time you add new preferences. So for people with stuff already in the prefs file please make sure to follow the new procedure by creating links or editing the default_prefs.xml file to ensure your entries are still there.
This is not for Alpha. This is for the current Perforce main branch, and the procedure will remain in place until the build mechanism integrated into the build system. After that time you will no longer need to keep the links in prefs_xml/ up to date any more; the build system shall pick up the XML files from your directory directly.