Windows Registry [was Re: Totally Gormless]

[Nicola Pero]

> > Who likes the Windows registry anyway ?  A local file on disk is 
> > something 
> > most users can delete or edit, while I don't remind ever meeting a 
> > real user 
> > that can remove old/unused Windows registry entries, or edit them.
> > 
> 
> Apparently some Windows users (or developers) do.  In fact there is 
> currently an unreviewed patch (on savannah) dealing with putting the 
> entire GNUstep defaults database in the registry. I (like many people 
> on this list) don't regularly use Windows so I don't know the pros and 
> cons.

Yes ... anyone can shed some light on the advantages/disadvantages of
using the Windows registry over a configuration file to store paths to 
locate resources etc ? :-)

My understanding is that a configuration file (probably bundled together
in the same directory as gnustep-base.dll like some Windows developer
suggested) would be better to be able to ship self-contained standalone
GNUstep applications because --

 * every app can have its own GNUstep.conf that doesn't conflict with the
others, while entries in the Windows registry are global

 * apps can be uninstalled without using an uninstaller ... just deleting 
the directory from disk would be enough, while with the Windows registry 
we'd need a special uninstaller that deletes the Windows registry entries


I would imagine user defaults are an entirely different matter, because
every user needs his/her own!  Then using the Windows Registry instead of
a bunch of files in the user's home directory start to make more sense, as
end-user might not like to see those strange-looking files in their home
dir, and we're less dependent on the determination of the home dir.  
Also, user defaults are normally naturally keyed on the application name,
so there is less potential for a conflict between different apps [they'd
still need to be uninstalled via an uninstaller though :-(].

Presumably Windows registry for user defaults might also do better than
file-system locking when used concurrently ?  I seem to remember some
silly issues with more than one Windows program opening the same file -
maybe it doesn't apply to here though ?

But the paths to resources for an application would be the same for all
users ... should basically be compiled in the application, and nobody
would need to modify them (assuming they can be relative to
gnustep-base.dll ... lots to do here but possible), so I don't see much
point in having them in the registry, also given it would complicate the
makefiles a lot. ;-)


Anyway, this is mostly a provocation -- trying to stimulate a reply from
someone who actually uses/develops on Windows and can give us some wise 
words on the Windows registry pros/cons. :-)

Thanks