Jachym Holecek wrote:
> Hello,
> 
> I'd like to propose a couple of changes to proplib(3), implemented
> by the code at:
> 
>   Patch against -current src/ [165KB]:
>     ftp://ftp.NetBSD.org/pub/NetBSD/misc/freza/prop/libprop.diff
> 
>   Regression tests to replace regress/lib/libprop:
>     ftp://ftp.NetBSD.org/pub/NetBSD/misc/freza/prop/libprop-regress.tar.gz
> 
>   Online-browsable versions:
>     ftp://ftp.NetBSD.org/pub/NetBSD/misc/freza/prop/src.common/
>     ftp://ftp.NetBSD.org/pub/NetBSD/misc/freza/prop/regress.lib.libprop/
> 
> The changes are:
> 
>   o Split encoding-specific bits from the rest of the code.
>     See common/include/prop/prop_codec.h
> 	common/lib/libprop/prop_codec_impl.h
> 	common/lib/libprop/prop_codec.c
> 
>   o Teach the library to support multiple codec backends,
>     these are selected at compile time.
>     See common/lib/libprop/prop_codec.c
> 	common/lib/libprop/prop_xml.c
> 	common/lib/libprop/prop_scn.c
> 
>   o Add a new codec (called "SCN") in addition to XML format.
>     See common/lib/libprop/prop_scn.c
> 	[example follows below]
> 
>   o Extend the API to support parsing of externalized data
>     accross buffer boundaries (so that plists can easily be
>     sent over nonblocking channels). Only SCN supports this
>     right now.
> 
>   o Add a regression test suite with a collection of data
>     samples.
> 
> The new SCN format is probably best explained with an example:
> 
>   ; This is a comment, below is a dictionary.
>   {
> 	uint0 		#ffff
> 	sint0 		-10
> 	sint1 		+10
> 	sint2 		10
> 	string0 	"Strings come in parenthesis."
> 	string1 	"Support\n\"C-style\"\nquoting."
> 	string2 	"And " . "can " . "be" . " multipart."
> 	boolean0 	True 		; Yes, On - case-insensitive.
> 	boolean1 	False 		; No, Off - case-insensitive.
> 	array 		[ 1 "foo" 42 Off ]
> 	dict 		[ 		; Arbitrary levels of nesting.
> 		[ { foo 1 } { foo 2 } ]
> 		[ { foo 3 } { foo 4 } ]
> 		[ { foo 5 } { foo 6 } ]
> 	]
> 	data0 		:abcd 		; Base64 encoded data.
> 	data1 		:efgh
> 			.ijkl
> 			.mnop
>   }
> 
> The format has been designed for low encoding overhead and relative
> human-friendliness.
> 
> The only missing bit (as far as I'm aware) is to update the manual
> pages -- to be done before this goes into the tree.
> 
> What do people think? Does it look OK to commit?
> 
> 	-- Jachym
> 

wow. that is very impressive. excellent job. ("yes!")

-e.

ps: what does scn stand for? :)