On Apr 4, 2007, at 2:24 PM, demerphq wrote:
Didnt you just describe the windows registry?
A) A horrible implementation doesn't prove the idea is invalid, and B) no, I didn't, because I'm just talking about abstracting file locations, not forcing every configuration file to act like a database.
I actually like the idea of the OS at least offering an extended configuration API that allows the application to act like it's writing to a database and completely ignore any file information, but I would still implement it so that it wrote each configuration to a separate file, rather than having this one, gigantic database whose failure brings your system to its knees.
Given that I spend a lot of my time writing parsers and generators for random applications (for Puppet[1]), I know how much pain is caused by every application being encouraged to write its own stupid configuration file format. I laugh when people say "standard INI", because there's no such thing that I can see. Yuck.
1 - http://reductivelabs.com/trac/puppet -- The conception of two people living together for twenty-five years without having a cross word suggests a lack of spirit only to be admired in sheep. --Alan Patrick Herbert --------------------------------------------------------------------- Luke Kanies | http://reductivelabs.com | http://madstop.com
