[Yhslug] my 5th grade student's question

[Matt Good]

On Wed, 2007-01-31 at 16:27 -0500, Phil Shapiro wrote:
>   a young linux enthusiast i help asked me if linux has a registry.
> 
>     thanks in advance for any answers. i wasn't quite sure what to tell him.

Linux itself does not, but the GNOME desktop has GConf which is similar.
The graphical GConf editor is in the menu "System Tools" >
"Configuration Editor" (at least on Ubuntu).  Here's an intro to GConf:
http://developer.imendio.com/publications/introduction_gconf_gnomevfs/

Otherwise most applications use text configuration files in "/etc"
and/or hidden "dot" files/folders in the user's home directory.  GConf's
data itself is actually stored in a hierarchy of XML files in
"~/.gconf".  The advantage is that GConf provides a set of APIs not just
to read and write the configuration files, but it allows programs to be
notified when settings are changed so that they can be reflected
immediately.

-- Matt Good