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Posted by Walter Roberson on October 23, 2008, 5:49 pm
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>All operating systems have a registry.
>It may not be called that but you cannot write one with out it.
What functionality should we be looking for, in case it isn't
called a registry?
The MS Windows "registry" is used for several different purposes:
- it keeps track of all officially "installed" programs
and keeps track of information about the programs, such as which
shared libraries they use
- it is used as a central repository of user-independant
system and application configuration information
- it is used as a central repository of user authentication
information and of user authorizations
- it is used as a central repository of per-user interactive
preferences (e.g., where the task-bar should appear), and of per-user
application configuration information ("preferences")
I have used and continue to use multiuser operating systems that
had none of these features, or which allowed the information
to be purged (possibly making the system more cumbersome
to upgrade, but the system did not -rely- on the information.)
The closest I can come to any of these roles is that a number of
operating systems use a plain-text file in a known location to
control user authentication -- which usernames are known, and
what their passwords are (possibly storing encrypted passwords.)
If you want to -define- that isolated functionality as being
enough of a "registry" to prove your statement... well, I've
also used operating systems that had no user control file at all.
Being able to distinguish between users is not a defining characteristic
of what -is- or -is not- an operating system.
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