I just *had* to comment.

[Cole Tuininga]

On Wed, 2004-06-02 at 13:17, miah wrote:
> Having had windows do really stupid stuff, like write the memory dump
> from a crash over the software hive and completely screw the system
> up, I can say that registries are completely stupid.  

It sounds to me that you are dismissing an entire idea based on a single
implementation of it.

> I'm quite happy
> with named.conf being a plain text file that I can place where I want.
> I cant imagine how digging through a binary file to change one
> configuration option is better.  

Neither can I.  Thankfully the sourceforge registry project is doing no
such thing.  8)  If you took a look at the project page, it says very
distinctly that it makes use of an XML format.

> Its KISS all over, and a software registry is definately not KISS, 

A single place with a common interface to store configuration
information is not simple?  Instead, having to memorize the
configuration style and location of different config files *per
application* is simpler?  You'll have to forgive me if I disagree.

> you're adding code to all the software that has to deal with it, 

This is admittedly true.  It would require a change in lots of
software.  I would argue that perhaps the end result would be
worthwhile, or at least worth considering.

> adding possibly more bugs, 

*chuckle*  Any software change has the potential of introducing bugs. 
IMHO, this is not a legitimate argument.

> not to mention relying on something which itself may have bugs.  

Again, if you're going to take that route, you'd better not link in libc
to your programs ... it could potentially have bugs!

> What if you have disk corruption, will you lose your registry and not 
> be able to load anything that uses it?  

I don't know the answer to this, but I would put to you that if you have
disk corruption, you have serious problems with your system anyhow. 
That's why we all keep good backups, right?  ;)

-- 
In an open world without fences and walls, 
who needs Gates and Windows?

Cole Tuininga
Lead Developer
Code Energy, Inc
colet at code-energy.com
PGP Key ID: 0x43E5755D