Linux configuration file libraries

Question

Are there any good configuration file reading libraries for C\C++ that can be used for applications written on the linux platform. I would like to have a simple configuration file for my application. At best i would like to steer clear of XML files that might potentially confuse users.

I think your decision to avoid XML is a good one. XML isn't really human readable except in an emergency. — Mark Baker, Sep 29 '08 at 08:39

score 25 · Answer 1 · answered Sep 29 '08 at 08:26

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I would recommend 'libconfig'.

answered Sep 29 '08 at 08:26

ayaz

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score 11 · Accepted Answer · answered Sep 29 '08 at 08:21

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You could try glib's key-value-file-parser

answered Sep 29 '08 at 08:21

Chris Young

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score 8 · Answer 3 · answered Sep 29 '08 at 16:59

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Another option is Boost.PropertyTree (doc). It allows to read/write XML, INI, JSON and Info files. And you get portability for free.

answered Sep 29 '08 at 16:59

jk.

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score 6 · Answer 4 · edited Apr 21 '11 at 23:15

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Boost program_options This allows you to read program options from config files, environment variables and the command line. It is portable and very easy to use.

edited Apr 21 '11 at 23:15

Ben James

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answered Sep 29 '08 at 08:21

1800 INFORMATION

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but this library could not save program options. – Jichao Apr 20 '14 at 13:28

score 1 · Answer 5 · answered Nov 09 '12 at 05:29

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For a single app, you could consider libconfuse.

If you need to be able to handle a wide variety of config file formats (e.g. for a web portal for a system, which needs to read and write config files from many apps in many formats), there is Augeas.

answered Nov 09 '12 at 05:29

Craig McQueen

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score 1 · Answer 6 · answered Sep 29 '08 at 08:45

If you just want a simple config file, with a list of commands and/or variable settings, then it's very easy to write your own parser, so easy that it's probably not worth using a library. If you need something more complicated then the parser rapidly becomes more complicated and an existing library is worth using.

I've never tried using libconfig, but it looks like a good choice, and I like the format of the config files it uses.

You need to decide whether you want your program to be able to write config files. If it's a GUI program, you probably do. This will affect what libraries are suitable.

score 0 · Answer 7 · answered Dec 08 '08 at 23:07

The question is what file format did you have in mind? The attribute "simple" is a bit of an underspecification. If you are looking for a library that can use "windows .ini formated" config files you may want to check out ACE http://www.cs.wustl.edu/~schmidt/ACE/ .

Linux configuration file libraries

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