[File] PRONOM signature conversions

[Jason Summers]

I don't speak for the 'file' project maintainers.

Looks like a lot of good information here. But I feel like I must be
missing something. Does the file on GitHub only include the first *line* of
each pattern?

Consider these examples. (Note that these are the complete patterns. There
are no ">" lines.)

0   string  \x46\x4f\x52\x4d    Amiga Metafile Format
0   string  \x46\x4f\x52\x4d    Extended MIDI Audio File
0   string  \x46\x4f\x52\x4d    FAXX IFF Facsimile Image
0   string  \x46\x4f\x52\x4d    IFF Amiga Contiguous BitMap

These are obviously not usable as they are.

Are your PRONOM patterns more strict than this? I know that not every
PRONOM pattern can easily be converted to file's format. But if a pattern
can't be converted properly, I'd think it should be rejected, not converted
badly.

On Thu, Apr 3, 2025 at 11:32 AM Gregory Lepore <greg at rhobard.com> wrote:

> Greetings - for the past 5 years I have been working with the UK National
> Archives to develop file format signatures for the PRONOM database. Those
> signatures are very similar to those used by file. I have converted the
> roughly 1,600 format signatures I've created to the 'file' format and
> posted those signatures on my GitHub site at:
>
> https://github.com/gleporeNARA/pronom-research/tree/master
>
> The vast majority of these signatures are not currently being used by
> 'file'.
>
> https://github.com/gleporeNARA/pronom-research/blob/master/formats.txt
>
> lists an older set of formats that I have produced signatures for.
>
>
> https://github.com/gleporeNARA/pronom-research/blob/master/'file'%20magic%20file%20from%20PRONOM%20sigs
>
> is my collection of PRONOM signatures converted to 'file' format
>
>
> https://github.com/gleporeNARA/pronom-research/blob/master/PRONOM%20to%20'file'%20test%20files
>
> are the results of running file against my test corpus. As you can see,
> most of the formats are not recognized.
>
> In addition to the format signature I have sample files and a brief
> writeup on each format.
>
> I'm looking for help on how best to get these signatures into file.
>
> Thanks!
> --
> File mailing list
> File at astron.com
> https://mailman.astron.com/mailman/listinfo/file
>


-- 
Jason Summers
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