[gdal-dev] Resquest for comments (RFC 36)

[Chris 'Xenon' Hanson]

On 10/3/2011 6:02 PM, Ivan Lucena wrote:
> Hi All,
> RFC 36: http://trac.osgeo.org/gdal/wiki/rfc36_open_by_drivername
> The goal of RFC 36 is to save processing time by telling GDALOpen what driver to use, avoiding the driver-probing mechanism (Where all drivers are asked to checked if they recognize the file).
> It works by adding the driver name before the file-name as in GDALOpen("hfa:example_file.img").

  My suggestion would be to look for a token that is NOT valid in a conventional
file-path-name/URL/URI. I would also possibly place that token in the FIRST string
character location for fast detection of this special condition without having to search
the whole beginning of the string. For example, if it was decided that '@' was not a valid
token otherwise, the string would be more like:

"@hfa:example_file.img"

  While in theory all token values are available for use in all URIs, in practice, I
suspect there is an exotic character (like 0x01 or 0x7f or 0xff) that could be safely
reserved for this use without affecting any known protocols or URIs.

-- 
Chris 'Xenon' Hanson, omo sanza lettere. Xenon at AlphaPixel.com http://www.alphapixel.com/
  Digital Imaging. OpenGL. Scene Graphs. GIS. GPS. Training. Consulting. Contracting.
    "There is no Truth. There is only Perception. To Perceive is to Exist." - Xen