Registry files on hpux 11i

[Shivkumar]

Dear Sirs,

I undersstand that windows registry files are different than binary files.

What is the windows equivalent of Registry file on HPUX ?

Thanks,
Shiv

[Patrick Wallek · Accepted solution]

HP-UX has the /stand/system file which contains kernel parameter and driver settings.

/var/adm/sw contains the list of software and patches that have been installed by swinstall.

Other than that there really isn't anything that could be thought of as equivalent to the registry on windows.

[James R. Ferguson]

Hi Shiv:

The closest analogy to a Windows Registry file that I can think of on Unix would be the contents of the '/var/adm/sw' directory.

This is known as the IPD (Installed Product Database). The Software Distribution tools ('swlist', 'swinstall', 'swmodify', etc.) rely on files in this directory to determine what patches and products are installed; what patches can be installled; what patches can be rolled back to a prior state, etc.

Corruption or total loss of this directory and its contents can mean that patching can no longer be done.

Regards!

...JRF...

[A. Clay Stephenson]

Thankfully, there is no equivalent in any flavor of UNIX. Your question is much like asking "Where are the feathers on a bat?".

[Shivkumar]

Some applications like iPlanet Application Server and SiteMinder stores some configs in registries. It seems these applications might have designed registry equivalent in their products itself. I was just wondering whether hpux unix has devised any such things which i may have missed.

[A. Clay Stephenson]

In Unix, any such configuration files are the sole responsibility of the application itself. There is nothing in the OS to generalize this.

[Yogeeraj_1]

hi,

The registry concept is only found on windows systems. In Unix environments (incl hp-ux), most software only use file-based approach to store the same information that would been otherwise on windows systems.

Also, the fact that windows APIs exists that facilitates the modification and reading of the registry.

On windows environment, the registry helps a lot..

kind regards
yogeeraj

[Arunvijai_4]

Hi Shiv,

HP-UX doesn't have any registries like Windows.
Many applications like Oracle, iPlanet keeps their own settings in a separate folder with .prefix (mostly), which hides from normal user. These folders may contain user settings, licensing information etc...

Hope this is clear.

-Arun

[Arunvijai_4]

Hi Shiv,

A good source of information about HP-UX,
http://www.osdata.com/oses/hpux.htm

-Arun

[Muthukumar_5]

why you are matching registry of windows with hp-ux? You can change system parameters with kernel. May be we can match kernel parameters and /var/adm/sw/ directory setting is virtually equal to registry ?!

--
Muthu

[Arunvijai_4]

Hi Shiv,

If you want to compare, /var/adm/sw/ stores all files related with Software Distributor (SD-UX).

-Arun

[Steven E. Protter]

Shalom Shiv,

The wonderful thing about Unix is that there is not a registry file.

There is a registry directory per say, which is /etc That is where application and software configuration files lie.

They are generally editable with vi and the mystery of the Windows registry file is absent.

There are general standards as to how things should be done, but they are often not followed by application vendors. Still editing a file to change application behavior handily beats the way Windows does things.

SEP

[Arunvijai_4]

Hi Shiv,

If you want to emulate Windows registry on Unix, there is a document available, http://www.byte.com/documents/s=22/BYT19990729S0001/

[Emulating Windows Registry in Unix].

-Arun