Re: Ini File vs Registry

See below...
On Sat, 20 Sep 2008 15:32:59 +0100, Daniel James <wastebasket@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

In article news:<OIHvFviGJHA.4836@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Giovanni
Dicanio wrote:
I think that the registry is an important and good tool e.g. to store
the association between a COM component GUID and the path where the
COM component can be loaded by the OS. This way the registry kind of
works as a centralized database for the OS.

Exactly ... it's a centralized database *for the OS*.
****
Where is this established, that is exclusive for the operating system? I've never seen a
single document that suggests this is a limitation, or even an exclusive purpose. Any
belief that it is only for OS interactions is based on faulty premises.

The correct premise is: The Registry is a named, hierarchical, securable database that
maps names to values.

End of statement. No place is there even a SUGGESTION that this is limited to OS
interactions.
***

Registration of COM components is an OS function and has to be done
centrally ... and it'd be damned inefficient if every COM component in
the system was registered by writing a new section in system.ini. The
registry is a good solution for that problem.
****
Registration of COM is *NOT* an OS function; it is a function of a set of libraries that
exist entirely outside the OS.
****

It's much less clear than any application program needs to have its
configuration stored centrally. Indeed, applications that can be run
from removable devices (USB sticks being a particular case in point)
benefit from keeping their configuration OUT of the registry.
****
"Centrally" to what? HKEY_CURRENT_USER is NOT "central" to anything; it is a per-user key
that is available to anyone for any purpose at any time.

The decision to use or not use the Registry is one that the designer of the software can
make; if the designer decides that the program should be run from a USB key, and wants to
arrange the configuration files in some fashion to make this possible, it is free to do
so, but this does NOT forbid someone who has no such need from using the Registry.

By the way, where do you keep the configuration file on the USB device? Certainly it
should not be in the executable directory, because then it is global to all users. So how
DO you arrange for per-user customizations? For example, assume the key is available to
several users who might each want their own settings, rather than being in the posession
of a single individual. How do you manage the settings?
****

The U3 system has to jump through a lot of hoops to provide its own
pseudo-registry for applications running from the stick, none of which
would be necessary if the applications were written to use configuration
files (on the stick) instead of the registry.
****
But where would you store the data, and how would you store it? And why is virtualization
of the Registry by a system a bad solution? Soounds like it solves the problems I just
described, by having per-user settings. You could more constructively argue that the
Registry needs virtualized hives that can be on other devices, which is a much more
compelling argument than saying it should not be used at all.

It sounds like you are saying that because you don't like the Registry, no one should use
the Registry, because it doesn't solve one particular problem which is generally
unintersting to solve for nearly all products nearly all the time.
joe
****

Cheers,
Daniel.


Joseph M. Newcomer [MVP]
email: newcomer@xxxxxxxxxxxx
Web: http://www.flounder.com
MVP Tips: http://www.flounder.com/mvp_tips.htm
.

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