Windows Registry - Equivalents in Other Operating Systems

Equivalents in Other Operating Systems

In contrast to the Windows registry's binary-based database model, some other operating systems use separate plain-text files for daemon and application configuration, but group these configurations together for ease of management.

• Under Unix-like operating systems e.g. Linux that follow the Filesystem Hierarchy Standard, system-wide configuration files (information similar to what would appear in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE on Windows) are traditionally stored in files in /etc/ and its subdirectories, or sometimes in /usr/local/etc. Per-user information (information that would be roughly equivalent to that in HKEY_CURRENT_USER) is stored in hidden directories and files (that start with a period/full stop) within the user's home directory. However XDG-compliant applications should refer to the environment variables defined in the Base Directory specification.
• Applications running on Apple Inc.'s Mac OS X operating system typically store settings in property list files which are usually stored in each user's Library folder.
• RISC OS uses directories for configuration data, which allows applications to be copied into application directories, as opposed to the separate installation process that typifies Windows applications; this approach is also used on the ROX Desktop for Linux. This directory-based configuration also makes it possible to use different versions of the same application, since the configuration is done "on the fly". If one wishes to remove the application, it is possible to simply delete the folder belonging to the application. This will often not remove configuration settings which are stored independently from the application, usually within the computer's !Boot structure, in !Boot.Choices or potentially anywhere on a network fileserver. It is possible to copy programs between computers running RISC OS by copying the application directories belonging to the programs, however some programs may require re-installing, e.g. when shared files are placed outside of an application directory.
• IBM AIX (a Unix variant) uses a registry component called Object Data Manager (ODM). The ODM is used to store information about system and device configuration. An extensive set of tools and utilities provides users with means of extending, checking, correcting the ODM database. The ODM stores its information in several files, default location is /etc/objrepos.
• The GNOME desktop environment uses a registry-like interface called GConf for storing configuration settings for the desktop and applications. However, in GConf, all application settings are stored in separate files, thereby partially eliminating a single point of failure.
• The Elektra Initiative provides an alternative back-end for text configuration files for the Linux operating system, similar to the registry.
• While not an operating system, the Wine compatibility layer, which allows Windows software to run on a Unix-like system, also employs a Windows-like registry as text files in the WINEPREFIX folder: system.reg (HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE), user.reg (HKEY_CURRENT_USER) and userdef.reg.