(n.b.: please don't take this email to be adversarial in tone, cuz it's
not meant to be; feel free to ignore it if so desired.)

> I'm not going to be persuaded otherwise,  
> because my fairly extensive real-world experience with this format  
> tells me that it's just not an issue.

Could you please expand on this? (This is an actual request for info,
not a rhetorical device.)

> I have stated this as my reasoning before.  All we're doing with  
> alternative formats is wasting our time stroking our own egos because  
> "we can do it better, hah!"

If you use that same logic, why bother using NetBSD when you could
use OS X?

Also, you allude many times to "cross-platform" use of proplists
- could you please elucidate wtf they are? Personally, I ahven't
seen much evidence for such formats outside of the "Here there may
be dragons, this could change at any time whatsoever" semisecret
OS X guts - and thus there doesn't seem to be a whole lot of cost
(or gain, save people's copious spare time) for introducing an
alternative format. (I'd love to be proved wrong with evidence that
there _is_ external stuff.)

> How much time will be  
> wasted documenting two serialization syntaxes for every app that  
> decides it wants to use proplib?

Is there any documentation intrinsic to NetBSD for the proplib
serialization stuff? Or is it all on apple's website somewhere?
 
> Well, you know, I never really liked the BIND domain file syntax.   
> Let's do another one! 

FWIW, while I personally find djbdns's syntax loathsome, it could
be worse - and works tolerably well for what it was designed.