on Mon, May 24, 2004 at 10:09:13AM +0100, Randy Orrison (randy@orrison.com) wrote:
> Roberto Sanchez wrote:
> >Karsten M. Self wrote:
> >> [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\System]
> >>"LocalProfile"=dword:00000001
> >>
> >>My only question is this: is this key documented somewhere, and how
> >>would one ordinarially go about getting documentation on a registry key?
> >
> >Probably not documented. I doubt MS would want people to know too much
> >about the registry.
> > [...]
> >That is one of the reasons I laugh at people who complain about the lack
> >of documentation for free software.
>
> As with most documentation, free and proprietary, it's easy to find if
> you know in advance what you're looking for. Going to www.microsoft.com
> and entering "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE Policies LocalProfile" into the search
> box on the front page returns two hits, different pages with the same
> content. One is here:
> <http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/WindowsServ/2003/all/deployguide/en-us/263737.asp>
>
> Extracting from that page:
> | LocalProfile
> | HKLM\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\System
> | Description
> | Only allow local user profiles.
>
> I'm not saying this would be easy to find if you didn't already know the
> relevant registry key, but it is documented in the obvious place, and to
> me it's clear what it means. I have the same problem with documentation
> for a lot of free software: if you know what you're looking for it's a
> lot easier to find than if you just have a problem and don't know where
> to look for the solution.
In the Free Software world, the answer would be a manpage that documents
either the entire file structure, or the relevant subtree of a shared
structure. Of course, with GNOME rushing madly into fatal embrace of
the Registry, *and* abhorring manpages, all bets are off. But we'll
file our bugreports here in Debian land.
But, say, for an application or suite which owned a particular subkey,
I'd expect to see:
- A full listing of keys.
- Values.
- Behaviors.
Anything less would be a documentation bug.
This would be stored someplace reasonable. Possibly cross-referencable
under "Registry Keys" or something in a documentation system (e.g.:
dwww, possibly a new manual section).
OK, having loaded the page here, it looks as if MSFT _are_ finally
headed in this direction. But it's interesting to note how little-known
or referenced this particular help subsystem is. My own search for
various keys didn't turn up anything remotely resembling this. Instead
we've got a mass of "<Foo product> tips", a few O'Reilly hacks &
annoyances books, and the like. Scattered suggestions, but no apparent
awareness of a canonical references.
There's also the slight issue that that's a W2K+3 ref and I'm working
XP, but I'll hunt for the other.
Peace.
--
Karsten M. Self <kmself@ix.netcom.com> http://kmself.home.netcom.com/
What Part of "Gestalt" don't you understand?
Save Bob Edwards! http://www.savebobedwards.com/
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