Re: "damaged registry keys"
Except (as already pointed out) with plain old files in /etc you can do things like version control - etckeeper for example.
Then you can check the history trivially (ok, what changed *this* time?), add comments when you actually know why and what made a change, so on ans so forth.
All with the same VC tools you know and love.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
