Best way to store config or preferences in a multi-platform way.

[Torsten Bronger]

Hallöchen!

Ivan Illarionov writes:

> On Fri, 02 May 2008 01:21:38 +0200, Torsten Bronger wrote:
>
>> [...]
>> 
>> In contrast to many other areas of software, configuration files
>> needn't be compatible with anything except the user's brain.  So
>> even if the rest of the world uses config format X, you can
>> safely stick with config format Y.
>
> There are several reasons for compatibility:
>
> 1. The user or another developer might want to write GUI front-end
> to configure your app. With standard format this would be easier.

The libraries are there after all -- I don't speak about an own
format.

> [...]
>
> 3. Bigger applications that include your sofware as one of its
> components may need to automate configuration process and update
> several config files of different smaller apps from one global
> setting.

If you do something complex like this, porting an application to
another config format is the smallest problem.  Or in other words:
This is not something I'd optimise config handling for.

> That's precisely why first XML and now YAML became popular for
> config files.

I can't speak for YAML, but XML was not used for the config files I
have in mind, but as a machine-readable serialisation format for
apps settings that you can set in the app itself.

Tschö,
Torsten.

-- 
Torsten Bronger, aquisgrana, europa vetus
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