is there a database in linux?
 

when you install programs, do the settings go in some sort of database run by the system (like the windows registry)? or are everything handled through files?

no, theres nothing like the registry, thank goodness, usually global confguration files are stored in /etc, user configuration files go in the user's home directory, the first character of each file/directory is normally a period to make them hidden

In addition to phil.d.g's comment, you can give pkgtool A try. Think of it as the Slackware version of "Add/Remove Programs" :)

all data on installed programs you can find in /var/log/packages.
the install scripts are in /var/log/scripts.

egag

You mean to tell me you wrote 2193 posts in 1 year? And i thought i was addicted :D

yeah....can't help myself... :D

egag

Linux does not have the concept of a "global system registry," which is an extremely good thing because the Registry has proven to be Windows' Achilles heel. System settings are stored in ordinary files, usually read-only. There are definite conventions as to where those files are customarily stored.

Some user-environments, such as KDE, have the concept of a settings-database but these are "per-user." Settings are stored in hidden directories, e.g. .kde, in the user's home-directory.

(In Unix/Linux, files and directories are hidden from normal view if their name begins with a period, ".". You can see the hidden files and directories with ls -a. Notice also that this concept is distinct from, and completely unrelated to, the two special directory-names that happen to also begin with a period, "." and "..".) The concept of a "'hidden file' attribute" does not exist in Unix/Linux as it does in Windows/MS-DOS, although this is functionally equivalent.)

One of the nice things about Unix/Linux is that, no matter what a (non-privileged) user may do to hose himself, those problems will be confined to that user's environment. There are no nonsense-issues like "forgetting how to run an .exe file :rolleyes: because some virus monkeyed around with the Registry," as there are in Windows.

If you read Linux and the Tools Philosophy, that will probably help you understand how Linux is designed.

Another good read is The Cathedral and the Bazaar.

wow, so many replies in just an hour!

i really appreciate that guys. thank you all for the info :)