For distributions based on GNOME 3.4, I don't think there is really a good workaround.
For distributions based on GNOME 3.2, this shouldn't be a problem because there is a GSettings -> GConf bridge which works fine (well, it works fine in Ubuntu at the moment. I'm not sure about other distros). However, this got dropped for GNOME 3.4 here: http://git.gnome.org/browse/gnome-settings-daemon/commit/?id=f4ef02038a1f57edf7a23ba91829f15cddfc7eff
For distributions based on GNOME 3.4, I don't think there is really a good workaround.
For distributions based on GNOME 3.2, this shouldn't be a problem because there is a GSettings -> GConf bridge which works fine (well, it works fine in Ubuntu at the moment. I'm not sure about other distros). However, this got dropped for GNOME 3.4 here: http:// git.gnome. org/browse/ gnome-settings- daemon/ commit/ ?id=f4ef02038a1 f57edf7a23ba918 29f15cddfc7eff