Re: [Mingw-users] howto write a registry with msys/mingw

[Greg C. <chi...@co...>]

On 2005-01-12 05:30 AM, Vincent Torri wrote:
> 
> i would like to install a dll in widows such that some programs use it
> when they are launched.
> 
> so i need to write some registry keys in the windows registries database.
> 
> Is there a way to do that with msys (in the shell) ?

The bash shell, with its *nix roots, is pretty much windows-agnostic.
But you can write command-line programs to manipulate the msw registry,
and invoke them at the command line.

I distinguish three general philosophies:

1. The 'native' msw way: put common dlls in the location where ms wants
you to put them today. That used to be /windows/system/ ; now I guess
it's somewhere in /Program\ Files/Common\ Files/ . Use the registry to
map programs to the dlls they need. GUI installation programs implement
these things for you.

2. The 'simplified' msw way: put a copy of each dll your program needs
in the directory where your program resides. Your installation program
might be a '.bat' file that invokes xcopy. Probably you don't need to
use the msw registry; if you do, then you can write a little program to
handle it, and invoke it in your '.bat' file.

3. The *nix way: see
   http://www.pathname.com/fhs/
Installation instructions might be very terse, like 'this program
depends on libxml2', and the user is supposed to know how to take care
of that.