Hi all.
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Olivier Biot [mailto:ethereal@xxxxxxxxxx]
> Sent: sabato 3 gennaio 2004 20.56
> To: Gilbert Ramirez
> Cc: Martin Regner; Fulvio Risso; Ethereal Development
> Subject: Re: [Ethereal-dev] PDML output - creator attribute
>
>
> From: "Gilbert Ramirez"
>
>
> > On Sat, 2004-01-03 at 07:50, Olivier Biot wrote:
> > > I'm more in favor of saying that the creator is "ethereal/0.10.0". As
> Fulvio
> > > already said, the PDML *format* does not change, and this is reflected
> in
> > > the version attribute of the pdml tag.
> >
> > No, those are two different "versions". The "version" attribute tag
> > reflects the "official" PDML format; since it's still in flux, we're
> > setting "version" to "0". What Fulvio was emphasizing is that Ethereal
> > produces a specific type of PDML, and format changes independently of
> > the addition or modification of protocol dissectors to Ethereal.
>
> OK, I got your point! As long as the PDML spec is not final, we
> cannot guess
> the PDML format as eing written by the application.
>
> > For example, when Ethereal 0.10.1 comes out, there will be changes to
> > the dissectors, but more than likely, unless someone modifies print.c,
> > there won't be any change to the format of the PDML produced by
> > Ethereal. So, these two snippets, produced by different versions of
> > Ethereal, hide information:
> >
> > <pdml version="0" creator="Ethereal/0.10.0">
> > <pdml version="0" creator="Ethereal/0.10.1">
> >
> > They hide the fact that the format of the PDML is the same.
> > Let's say in Ethereal 0.10.2 that the PDML format *does* change. If we
> > use the same system:
> >
> > <pdml version="0" creator="Ethereal/0.10.2">
> >
> > well... it's hard to tell if the *format* of the PDML changed. You'd
> > have to encode the fact that the PDML formats that Ethereal produced
> > changed at version 0.10.2. It's easier to encode that information in
> > Ethereal itself, i.e., have a version number for the PDML that ethereal
> > produces, and increment it every time the format of ethereal's PDML
> > changes.
>
> I see.
>
> > Maybe we stick the ethereal PDML version number it in the "creator"
> > attribute, or maybe we add a new attribute, say "creator-version":
> >
> > <pdml version="0" creator="Ethereal/0/0.10.0">
> > <pdml version="0" creator="Ethereal/0/0.10.1"> ethereal PDML
> format stayed
> the same
> > <pdml version="0" creator="Ethereal/1/0.10.2"> ethereal PDML format
> changed
> >
> > or
> >
> > <pdml version="0" creator="Ethereal/0.10.0" creator-version="0">
> > <pdml version="0" creator="Ethereal/0.10.1" creator-version="0">
> > <pdml version="0" creator="Ethereal/0.10.2" creator-version="1">
>
> I'd propose to do it like I've seen in many WSP and HTTP headers :)
>
> <pdml version="0" creator="Ethereal/0.10.0 pdmlwriter/0">
>
> How about that?
I prefer something like:
<pdml version="0" creator="Ethereal" dissectors="0.10.0">
For instance, the creator is useful for me, because the *syntax* of the PDML
language does not change, but the content of the PDML file depends on the
dissectors. Ethereal uses native dissectors, Analyzer uses XML-based ones
(through NetPDL).
So, I feel important to know who generated the PDML file, because the same
binary capture will generate two different PDML files in Analyzer and
Ethereal (although compatible).
What I propose is to add a new attribute called "dissector" (or
"dissector_version" or whatever) that tells us the version of the dissectors
that were used to generate that output.
What do you think about that?
> > Once Analyzer and Ethereal can use the same PDML format, the PDML
> > version ("version" attribute) will become 1, and we can then drop the
> > creator attribute, if we want to.
>
> I agree for the full 100% :)
I prefer to keep that info, instead ;-))
Cheers,
fulvio
