[mythtv-users] On the verge of giving up

[Jay R. Ashworth]

On Mon, Sep 24, 2007 at 11:38:06AM -0600, Brett Kosinski wrote:
>      > /etc is about all the complexity of registry I can cope with, thank you.
>      Just go to any software store and see how many products are offered for
>      sale that purport to "fix" registry problems.
>      Look at all the web sites offering a "free" registry scan. Of course
>      they always find *something* wrong, and want $$$ to "repair" it.
>      The Registry is a great thing,if you are a software vendor.
> 
>    Don't mistake the Windows registry implementation with the concept, itself,
>    of a centralized, consistent (in the sense that it's a consistent format
>    with a known layout) configuration database.  IMHO, the concept isn't
>    necessarily a bad one.  The Windows implementation of it, however... well,
>    that's another story entirely. :)

>    Personally, I'd love to do away with the myriad config files and formats
>    littered all over my machine.  Heck, it could be something as simple as an
>    API that layered over a standard filesystem, producing text-based
>    configuration files of a known format, using a well-understood directory
>    structure.  This makes things user-editable, scalable, consistent, and
>    transparent.  It'll never happen, but it's a nice dream. :)

Indeed, my approach (which I've written up but can't find just now) was
actually to layer a collection of descriptor files (with check
constraints described as well as formatting) and a matching API atop
the files which already exist.

That is: make it *look* like a unified registry, without pissing off
the Unix hackers.

Cheers,
-- jra
-- 
Jay R. Ashworth                   Baylink                      jra at baylink.com
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