GConf attempts to leapfrog the registry concept. It's a library which provides
a simple configuration data storage interface to applications, and also an
architecture that tries to make things easy for system administrators.

Here are some of the features of GConf:

    * Replaceable backend architecture.

    * Configuration key documentation. Applications can install documentation
      along with their configuration data, explaining the possible settings and
      the effect of each configuration key.

    * Data change notification service. If configuration data is changed, all
      interested applications are notified. The notification service works
      across the network, affecting all login sessions for a single user.

    * The client API is very abstract.

    * GConf does proper locking so that the configuration data doesn't get
      corrupted when multiple applications try to use it.

WWW: http://www.gnome.org/projects/gconf/