[gdal-dev] Extension based file identification in drivers

[Even Rouault]

On mercredi 28 mars 2018 15:05:34 CEST Andrew C Aitchison wrote:
> On Tue, 27 Mar 2018, Even Rouault wrote:
> >  The identification logic of drivers is supposed to operate fast
> > 
> > (extension based, or on the content of the first kilobyte of the header),
> 
> If I understand correctly Frank Warmerdam did not favour extension based
> file identification:
> https://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/gdal-dev/2013-February/035516.html
>    GDAL is based on the idea that file formats are discovered by
>    inspecting file contents rather than based on extension and I don't
>    want to make it too easy for applications to ignore this principle
>    and revert to extensions.
> 
> I have therefore tried to avoid using extension to identify file type.
> 
> Has thinking on this moved on in the last five years ?

No. Identification per file content is still the primary identification 
method. There are a few drivers where this is not possible due to the file 
format (absence of header with unambiguous signature), and thus extension is 
used as a fallback.

Even

-- 
Spatialys - Geospatial professional services
http://www.spatialys.com