Re: [OT] registry implementation (was Re: Debian, too easy?)

[Matthew Weier O'Phinney <matthew@weierophinney.net>]

-- Gregory Seidman <gss+debian@cs.brown.edu> wrote
(on Thursday, 24 October 2002, 09:06 AM -0400):
> Russell sez:
> } Gregory Seidman wrote:
> } > Russell sez:
> ...and all this starts looking more and more like LDAP. Certain parts of
> the registry (e.g. the passwords) would have to be system-only,
> regardless of what the user's registry had in it; probably there would
> be group registries as well.
> 
> Doing it right requires astounding complexity; I think it's feasible,
> but only just barely and only by a dedicated team of full-time systems
> engineers. As I said, I expect to see something similar from Apple
> before I see it anywhere else. Microsoft could do it more easily, since
> they aren't tied to the legacy Unix file formats, but they have the
> albatross of the original Win95 (or was it in earlier versions of
> Windows?) system registry and will never be rid of it.
There are some great ideas behind a registry -- centralized
configuration, fewer files, and, if a front-end were written, ease of
use. 

HOWEVER, the longer I use *nix systems, the more I like the fact that
when I want to tweak a *single* app, I tweak a *single* file for that
app -- I don't have to go looking through a registry to find it, I don't
have to open a registry editor, tell it what I'm configuring, and then
do it -- I simply edit *the* file.

I WOULD like to clean up my home directory, tho'. All those . files and
directories make it an unwieldy place sometimes!

-- 
Matthew Weier O'Phinney
matthew@weierophinney.net