As Jim has pointed out, there are some things that are not appropriate to
store in a gdb, such as:
o Alias - to - pathname conversions
o Server startup information (like the location of the config database, or
the user ID to run the server)
o Client ACL lists (you shouldn't require a connection to a database to find
out if you are permitted to connect to a database) - though I suppose
ibserver should read this once and cache the information.

The text config file idea has the advantage that it can store all these
items, and much more. Also, it is portable, unlike a GDB. If security of
this file is important, one can limit the file permissions appropriately (if
security is important, _don't_ use FAT filesystems).

How about this idea for ease of use of moving plugins from one system to
another:
o Introduce a directory off the InterBase top directory called `config'.
o In this directory is the textual config file, as well as all binaries for
plugins and UDF libraries, etc.
o When you want to move this directory to another system, you just use
WinZip or tar or jar or shar or whatever you want to package up the config
directory and move it.
o Optionally, if there exists a directory `config-<architecture>-<operating
system>' that matches the current platform, the ibserver uses this config
directory in place of the short directory name. This allows
`config-x86-Linux' or `config-x86-Windows' or `config-sparc-solaris', etc.
If no matching directory exists, then use simply `config'.

Bill Karwin