Re: [Multiformats] IETF 116 Dispatch Multiformats: Responses to Jonathan Rosenberg

[Orie Steele <[e-mail]>]

They are "content identifiers", either using hashes, or by encoding the
content bytes with a prefix.

https://github.com/multiformats/multiformats

The are imo closest to a family of URNs.

And very popular in the blockchain community.

OS



On Tue, Apr 11, 2023, 3:55 PM Manu Sporny <[e-mail]> wrote:

> Jonathan Rosenberg said:
> > I was surprised there was no magic cookie in front of these
> Multiformats, it collides with UU-encoded strings, is this a specific
> domain encoding or something meant for global use? Is there a reason there
> is no magic cookie in front of it?
>
> If I understand your question correctly, Multiformats are not designed
> to be a replacement for magic bytes in file headers or as a
> replacement for things like uuencoding.
>
> They are meant to be used in application-specific data structures
> expressed in syntaxes like JSON, YAML, and CBOR. In other words, there
> is always an encapsulating data model that signals that the value is a
> Multiformat. For example, in JSON
>
> {
>   "url": "https://foo.example/file.dat",
>   "digestMultibase": "zjEkl...Wkd"
> }
>
> One could imagine that the JSON object above is identifying a file by
> a URL and then associating a Multibase encoded digest value
> (presumably encoded as a Multihash value). The specification
> associated with that JSON object would state clearly what Multibase
> and Multihash combinations are expected/allowed.
>
> Therefore, I believe that the answer to your question is: "There is no
> magic cookie in front of it because Multiformats are always used where
> the fact that the value is a Multiformat value is known before the
> value is consumed. Multiformats are not a replacement for magic bytes
> in file headers or uuencoding."
>
> Did that answer your question, Jonathan?
>
> -- manu
>
> --
> Manu Sporny - https://www.linkedin.com/in/manusporny/
> Founder/CEO - Digital Bazaar, Inc.
> https://www.digitalbazaar.com/
>
> --
> Multiformats mailing list
> [e-mail]
> https://www.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/multiformats
>