On Wednesday 24 January 2001 18:22, you wrote:
> Also, if we're going to make the format as simple as possible, by
> removing all the redundant tags, then we can also remove the GameID tag.
> After all, GameID=penadv is not needed when the only .ini file inside the
> package is "penadv.ini". The GameID can be retrieved from the filename at
> no cost.
I don't think this is a good idea. Getting info from inside the file is
different from getting it from the filename.
For example, if you include an INI file in a mail or newsgroup post, the
filename is not available. The same is true if you receive an INI file as a
result of a query from a database.
In the case of a ZIP file, "penadv.ini" must be retreived by searching
through the archive directory for "*.ini". Having a fixed filename makes the
retreiving of the INI file easier.
A motivation for naming the INI file after the GameID was that multiple games
can be extracted in a single directory. However, this is only possible if
none of the other files have names that overlap. For the ROM, DSK and PNG
files that can be accomplished, but in the case of BASIC and COM type games
the files can have any name. And some names, like "AUTOEXEC.BAS" and
"README.TXT" will occur quite often, so name conflicts are not just a
theoretical possibility.
Bye,
Maarten
--
For info, see http://www.stack.nl/~wynke/MSX/listinfo.html
