Why Linux don't have Registry Editor or regedit?

[SHENGTON]

Hi guys, good day.

I'm confuse with this, just wanna ask this:
1. Why Linux don't have Registry Editor or regedit?

Thanks and God bless.

[GNU-Fan]

Because GNU was made to be as UNIX compatible as possible. And they replaced the UNIX programs one by one. And in the UNIX world, they used to use per application configuration files.

But does it really matter if you use different configuration files in the /etc directory or one big file which you load+edit with a dedicated viewer?

By the way, the GNOME desktop uses an approach very similar to the windows registry.

[SHENGTON]

Thanks for the quick reply sir.

I searched awhile ago and I found some topics or links that I can install registry editor program. What can you say about this?

They said there's no registry in Linux. Then why is it there are links where I can download Linux Registry Editor? Does it mean that Linux also have this Registry?

[GNU-Fan]

There can't be a versatile registry editor in the world of GNU/Linux, because most applications use an ordinary text file to store their configuration in. This means, such an registry editor is not really feasible.

Theoretical, there could be a distribution that has all application modified to read their configuration in a common format, and therefore creates such an registry, but I am not aware of any such distribution. I also doubt such a thing exists because it is too much work with little gain.

The editors you speak about seem to be just some graphical wrappers that know how to write the configuration files for maybe half a dozen programs.

[i92guboj]

Hi guys, good day.

I'm confuse with this, just wanna ask this:
1. Why Linux don't have Registry Editor or regedit?

Thanks and God bless.

Why don't helicopters have wheels?

Mmmm, regedit is a Windows program, Linux is a different OS, just like helicopters are not cars.

[i92guboj]

Thanks for the quick reply sir.

I searched awhile ago and I found some topics or links that I can install registry editor program. What can you say about this?

If you use wine to run windows programs under linux, it comes with a clone of regedit. Of course, it's only for the wine configuration purpose, and will not affect linux at all.

Or maybe you are talking about the gnome configuration editor, which is very regedit-like, but it's just for gnome configuration purposes. Nothing to do with the rest of your system either.

[saurabh.nigam]

yeah i92guboj is right u can have it in wine

[SHENGTON]

Thanks for the inputs guys. One last questions:

1. Is Gconf-Editor equivalent to Registry Editor? Why?
2. What's the difference between them?

[techieMoe]

1. Is Gconf-Editor equivalent to Registry Editor? Why?

No, it is not. Gconf-Editor is a graphical utility used to change certain aspects of the Gnome desktop environment. It does not affect anything in the underlying system except applications that specifically rely on the Gnome framework (such as Nautilus File Manager).

There is no Linux equivalent to the Windows Registry Editor. Each application has its own configuration script (usually a simple text file). This is because Linux does not follow the same development philosophy as Microsoft Windows. They are completely separate products developed using different techniques.

[SHENGTON]

Thanks sir for replying.

If I installed a software or hardware, does it automatically create a .conf file in the /etc directory?