[flac-dev] Tag flac as flac 1.2.1_git

[Brian Willoughby]

The flac front-end utility should have its own version number, on a  
separate schedule from the flac library. I can see that we'd be able  
to add features to the utility quite extensively without ever  
changing the file format or the library. I realize that the utility  
has historically shared the library version number, but I see a  
strong case to separate them from each other to free up development  
possibilities.

Apart from fixing some issues with newer compilers, the library is  
the same code. It should probably remain 1.2.1 or advance to 1.2.2 if  
there are actually any significant code changes.

If we can agree on separating the library and utility version  
numbers, then I think we'll have a much better chance of agreeing on  
version numbers. Not to mention the fact that embedded devices  
without a command line or any other kind of utility won't needlessly  
see version number changes when the format remains the same. On that  
note, I suppose this means we might want to mark FLAC files with the  
version of the utility that created them, since the format version  
number won't indicate that going forward - perhaps an application  
block would be appropriate.

Brian Willoughby
Sound Consulting


On Jan 17, 2013, at 09:27, Ralph Giles wrote:
> On 13-01-16 11:10 PM, Erik de Castro Lopo wrote:
>> My understanding is that the recent changes for 7 and 8 channels was
>> a documentation change only.
>
> I think we should also change the flac front-end utility to construct
> and interpret the WAVE channel mask for 7 and 8 channel files. No one
> has written that patch yet.
>
> FWIW I generally agree with Erik that 1.3.x is justified by the long
> period without a point release. Adding a channel mapping for 7 and 8
> channel files is a small spec addition, and doesn't have a serious
> effect on deployed implementations.