/* PreferencesFactory - Preferences system and user root factory interface
   Copyright (C) 2001 Free Software Foundation, Inc.

This file is part of GNU Classpath.

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it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
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02111-1307 USA.

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permission to link this library with independent modules to produce an
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package java.util.prefs;

/**
 * Preferences system and user root factory interface. Defines how to get
 * to the system and user root preferences objects. Should be implemented by
 * new preferences backends.
 *
 * @since 1.4
 * @author Mark Wielaard (mark@klomp.org)
 */
public interface PreferencesFactory {

    /**
     * Returns the system root preferences node. Should always return the
     * same object.
     */
    Preferences systemRoot();

    /**
     * Returns the user root preferences node. May return different objects
     * depending on the user that called this method. The user may for example
     * be determined by the current Thread or the Subject associated with the
     * current AccessControllContext.
     */
    Preferences userRoot();

}