Better uploaded file description support

Re: FILE_ID.DIZ Limits
From Newsgroup: alt.bbs.synchronet

> Where file_id.diz is the standard
> and file_id.ext is the non standard..
> And in the synchro config somewhere you can pick which id file you would
rather
> use as default for the descriptions.. and if the file_id.ext is not found
then
> it will default back to the standard file_id.diz anyway.
> you get the best of both worlds..
>
> if that makes any sense.. :)

I tend to think of file_id.diz as being obsolete -- mostly due to the fact
that I rarely see it in archives which have been downloaded from non-BBS
sources.  Creating a "new" archive description standard is one way to go,
but there also exist solutions that are already in use.  The first one that
comes to mind is the "Portable Application Description" (PAD file).  It's a
standardized XML format file used to describe the software, ownership,
distribution status, etc, etc.  Because everything is tag-based you get to
choose what fields your users see.  Several software repositories (such as
Simtel.net) have moved to using PAD files for upload because it allows their
upload indexing process to be automated -- that is the older version of the
software on the server can be replaced by the new version.

http://www.asp-shareware.org/pad/specs.asp

-Josh


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