> -----Original Message-----
> From: ethereal-dev-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx
> [mailto:ethereal-dev-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx]On Behalf Of Biot Olivier
> Sent: giovedì 1 gennaio 2004 23.23
> To: 'Gilbert Ramirez'
> Cc: Ethereal Development
> Subject: RE: [Ethereal-dev] PDML output - creator attribute
>
>
> | -----Original Message-----
> | From: Gilbert Ramirez
> |
> | On Wed, 2003-12-31 at 06:14, Biot Olivier wrote:
> | > Hi all,
> | >
> | > Although we generate PDML output with Ethereal, and we
> | write the created
> | > attribute of the PDML tag, we do not "freeze" a PDML
> | Ethereal spec. However,
> | > Ethereal develops over time while we set the "release" at
> | discrete points in
> | > time, typically some hours before releasing a new official
> | version. As a
> | > result, we cannot rely upon the PDML creator attribute to
> | unambiguously map
> | > the output to the *real* creator.
> | >
> | > I propose to have a dedicated make target for building a
> | real release, and
> | > that we can modify the "creator" attribute (along with
> | other version info in
> | > util.c read from config.h), so that:
> | >
> | > a) Real "official" releases have a version like it is today.
> | > b) Intermittent builds have a text string appended to the
> | base version,
> | > containing e.g., a build timestamp.
> | >
> | > Are there other ideas?
> | >
> | > Regards,
> |
> | Another possibility...
> |
> | Instead of using the Ethereal version number in the creator attribute,
> | we could assign version numbers to the PDML created by Tethereal. For
> | example, this first version of PDML would be labeled:
> |
> | <pdml version="0" creator="ethereal/0">
> |
> | The "ethereal/0" value would stay the same, across Ethereal revisions,
> | until the format of the generated PDML changed. Then it would
> | have this
> | label:
> |
> | <pdml version="0" creator="ethereal/1">
> |
> | And when Tethereal and Analyzer finally agree on a PDML specification,
> | the label would be:
> |
> | <pdml version="1" creator="ethereal">
>
> However I don't think Ethereal will ever have a final output, as
> I see many
> developers enhancing all dissectors (thanks to all of them!).
Yes, but the *format* of the PDML output does not change if you modify the
dissectors.
An oupdated dissector will change the *data* inside the PDML file, not the
*format* of the PDML file.
So, I believe that "creator" should keep only the name (not the version) of
the PDML file.
> For this
> reason I think it makes sense to add the Ethereal version to the PDML
> output. However we cannot distinguish between a PDML file
> generated with the
> official Ethereal build and one generated by an intermittent buid...
I believe this is not a problem, as soon as the PDML format does not change.
Cheers,
fulvio
