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.

Answer 1

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

Answer 2

Boost program_options

Answer 3

I would recommend 'libconfig'.

Answer 4

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.

Answer 5

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

Answer 6

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/ .