Re: [Cellar] Adding private elements to Matroska

[Tobias Rapp <[e-mail]>]

On 13.04.2018 11:35, Jerome Martinez wrote:
> I am working on a project related to Matroska and I would like to add 
> some private elements to Matroska, at different levels (TrackEntry, 
> BlockGroup, Segment).
> These elements add no specific features for media playback.
> 
> As there is no indication about how to add private elements (no element 
> is reserved for hosting private sub elements), Matroska conformance 
> checkers currently flag new elements as "unknown".
> 
> I would like to debate about how to add new elements to Matroska, for 
> some specific needs so more flagged "private", and for future needs for 
> Matroska (e.g. HDR metadata was added during CELLAR work, what should be 
> done in the case CELLAR already released the spec?).
> 
> Some questions:
> - IMO a new element should not make a new version mandatory, as new 
> element are ignored by players, but what should be the behavior of a 
> conformance checker? error raising if the element is not known, 
> information only? Maybe we need a paragraph about it in specs.
> - How to manage private elements? Difficulty is to be sure an element 
> identifier used by third party A is not reused by third party B due to B 
> not knowing about A.On my side I suggest to just add it to 
> ebml_matroska.xml without specific details in spec itself, see 
> https://github.com/Matroska-Org/matroska-specification/pull/223/files 
> for an example, so everyone is aware of identifiers reserved for a third 
> party tool. Should such elements be in a separate document, mp4ra style?

There has been some discussion about private elements on the list:
https://mailarchive.ietf.org/arch/msg/cellar/GwatcU8PFLwC4FFFWVyriDZtPR8

I think the best option would be to reserve some identifier range for 
private use (similar to Private Use Area in Unicode).

Regarding new to-be standardized elements: The question seems to be when 
to increment the DocTypeVersion value in a muxer application. Only when 
the standard is complete or already when it's clear that the element 
will be added?

Regards,
Tobias