Respitory?

[Liss Svanberg <lisss ydab se>]

Hawba!

In some of the letters I've been reading, people has been talking about 
*The Respitory*
Until today, this word didn't ring any bell...
...and then it came to me: could this be an equalent to the Registry in NT?
<terrified scream>
PLEASE, NOO!!!

<pause>
Okay...
Perhaps I should begin with explaining my point of view, and the background 
of it.
(So that nobody missunderstands me, thus preventing me from behaving like a 
jerk a second time...)

First of all: I don't know a thing about The Respitory, because I've spent 
most of my time trying to setup CC* instead of examining Gnome, so if I say 
things about the respitory that isn't true, please correct me.
(* CC is CodeCrusader, not CocaCola :)

And now: Why does Liss dislike the registry?
Actually, I what I dislike is the kind of registry that is global to all 
applications.
The global registry in NT (&W95) is a neverending scource of strange 
behavour, and occassional crasches if you plan to use your computer to 
anything more than word processing!

In the older days, you had a setupfile togeather with the executable. This 
was your program, and if you wanted to modify it (say, move it to another 
harddrive, because you had run out of space), >>at least, you allways knew 
where to find the setup<<.
When using NT, you will receive HellOnEarth(TM) if you would try to do 
anything like this, unless you are able to make your changes through some 
kind of installation program.
- Why? Because NT programs are ALL (ok, allmost all) storing their setup 
parameters in ONE HUGE registry, at SEVERAL locations.
Try find them all...

:-(
- Why couldn't NT have a registry interface instead (a common DBserver), 
that you could use to manipulate different, program specific setup/registry 
files?
I would allways know where to find parameters for a specific program, and - 
even better - in the case of a harddrive crasch, setupfiles on other 
harddrives would still work!



Ok...
<conclusion>
I really hope that Gnome hasn't adopted the NT way, with one registry for 
all applications.
I hope, that Gnome instead offers either a standard DBinterface or a 
standard script parser that programs can use for their own setup purposes.
I hope, that this allso applies to applications that are considered part of 
the GnomeCore (administration tools, file managers, Baboon etc).

Anyway; please, please, please ... at least try avoiding this 
single-huge-global-registry-monster!!!


mvh
// Liss
liss@ydab.se

"When in trouble, when in doubt,
run in circles, scream and shout!"