Configuration file
software file used to configure the initial settings for a computer program
A configuration file, also known as config file, is a file that stores data used to configure a software system such as an application, a server or an operating system.
Some applications provide a tool to create, modify, and verify the syntax of their configuration files – sometimes via graphical user interface (GUI). For context, system administrators may be expected to create and modify text config files via a text editor. For server processes and operating-system settings, there is often no standard tool, but operating systems may provide graphical interfaces such as YaST or debconf.
Some computer programs only read their configuration files at startup. Others periodically check the configuration files for changes. Users can instruct some programs to re-read the configuration files and apply the changes to the current process, or indeed to read arbitrary files as a configuration file. There are no definitive standards or strong conventions.
File format
In general, a config file can have any format. The format that applies to a particular system is determined by the design of that system.
“Configuration file” enters the record as software file used to configure the initial settings for a computer program. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Configuration, file and software can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Configuration file” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Configuration, file and software provides the most credible route into that argument.
Datasets, specimens, observations and peer-reviewed methods provide the appropriate test for the technical claims summarized here. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 4, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q936292. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
Current terminology should not be projected backward without checking the classification used when the underlying evidence was created. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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Questions for further research
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This entry incorporates text from “Configuration file” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.