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From: "Chad R. Meiners" <crmeiners@hotmail.com>
Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada
Subject: Re: A standard package for config files is needed
Date: Wed, 29 May 2002 13:56:43 -0400
Organization: Michigan State University
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Date: 2002-05-29T13:56:43-04:00
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"Preben Randhol" <randhol+abuse@pvv.org> wrote in message > So I hope now to
kick off a discussion around this.

> We have been discussing a bit about Window registry versus .ini files,
> and have more or less agreed that the latter is the better. The reason
> is that .ini files are:
>
>    * Platform independant (can use the exact same routines on Unix)
>    * Easier to backup
>    * Easier to have more than one version of

So why are you even talking about the backend of storing program
configurations?  It would seem reasonable that you would want to define a
set of API's for storing program configuration.  This package would then
take advantage of the services offered (or not offered) by the operating
system.
This would allow for the compiler vendor to best determine how
configurations should be stored.  Sure, you might want to write an initial
package that provides the configuration services via .ini files for
usability test, but I would really like it if the configuration API is
customized to each system type.  This means that when you compile your
program for NT the program uses the registry and when you compile your
program for UNIX it uses configuration files.  This ways the end user
doesn't have to learn yet another configuration paradigm to reconfigure an
Ada program; they can use the operating system's paradigm.

-CRM