[Matroska-devel] Re: EBML

[Paul Bryson]

"Martin Nilsson" wrote...
> I don't know if this is the most appropriate place for this, but I
> didn't find any EBML specific forum.

The "right" place might possibly be the sf.net mailing list, but this place is
certainly more useful.  :)

> My name is Martin Nilsson and once
> upon a time I did an overly complex standard called ID3v2.

I have spent many hours pouring over the ID3v2.4.0 docs.  My greatest regret is
that they didn't have an HTML version that I could just like directly to tag
descriptions.  Sometimes it was difficult to understand exactly what a given
field was for, and in working with the Matroska Tags, I would simply link to
those specs hoping that others would understand the purpose.  Overall though, it
was a very good spec, and it is an honor to respond to correspondance from the
person that developed it.

The first revision of the Matroska Tags turned out to be even more complex than
ID3v2, and was eventually revised into a simpler, and ultimately more flexible
system.  Any direction you could offer with them would be more than appreciated.
I can see that you are busy with several projects, so it would certainly be
understandable if you do not have the time, or are simply sick of tags.
http://matroska.org/technical/specs/tagging/index.html

> My mission
> now is to seek out emerging standards that I am likely to be affected by
> and make sure I can live with them :)

A noble cause to say the least.

> So this week I've spent one day writing an EBML library of my own, to
> figure EBML out as best as I could, and two days on writing an EBML
> specification draft. I hope this is an welcome effort and does not
> collide with anything that you are already working on. The draft (and I
> emphasize draft) is available at
>
> http://pike.ida.liu.se/generated/ebml.txt
>
> Any feedback is good feedback.

The most feedback I could give is to say, "excellent job, keep up the good
work".  While I wouldn't say that the current group is very lacking in its
ability to define the standard on its website, you certainly have great skill at
producing documents that would be needed for official processes.  Very well
written.


Pamel