RE: Contraversial: A New FRUGAL File System? Linux Registry (again)?

["Joseph D. Wagner" <theman@josephdwagner.info>]

I concur with Charles Manning [manningc2@actrix.gen.nz] that the registry is a good idea and would be valuable to Linux, and I unfortunately agree that the registry is too often abused.

I must admit, though, that the idea of using a file system rather than a database as a registry is rather intriguing.  Instead of creating a whole new API for a registry, you can simply use the existing VFS API and treat each file as a registry entry.  However, Access Control Lists (ACL's) would be a must-have before such a file system registry is implemented or else both programs and users alike would surely abuse the registry.

Personally, I think a registry on Linux should be held off until Linux has native support for ACL's.  Trying to build a secure registry based upon the existing file system security architecture (read, write, execute; owner, group, everyone) would simply be too much of a hassle.

Joseph Wagner

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Charles Manning [mailto:manningc2@actrix.gen.nz]
> Sent: Monday, October 27, 2003 12:36 AM
> To: Warren W. Gay VE3WWG; linux-fsdevel@vger.kernel.org
> Subject: Re: Contraversial: A New FRUGAL File System? Linux Registry
> (again)?
> 
> Warren
> 
> I deal with various embedded systems, including Windows CE.
> 
> Of the few OS concepts carried over from Windows to WinCE, the registry is
> one.
> 
> I can see some merit to the concept of a registry, in theory, in that it
> makes a single configuration system in a single place. This makes
> administration and configuration a bit simpler. However, the concept of a
> single config point is very challenging when one deals with booting etc.
> Windows CE has serious pain there since you need the registry to boot, but
> where do you store the damn thing? WinCE now supports split registries to
> address this.
> 
> The Windows registry gets seriously abused too. I've seen it used for
> everything from inter-process communications to implementing error logs
> etc.
> 
> When it comes to newbie users, I don't think they really get any benefit
> from
> using a registry. How many Windows users use regedit or know there's a
> registry? Nope, they use the service's cute GUI config front-end.  Same
> for
> your softer Linux user - they just use the GUI sysadm tools and don't have
> to
> worry where the configs are.
> 
> Independently of registries, I think the concept of a frugal fs is a good
> one
> and likely to be of use to the embedded folk.
> 
> -- CHarles
> 
> 
> 
> 
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