Mork (file format)
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| Filename extension | .mdb |
|---|---|
| Developed by | Mozilla Foundation |
| Type of format | Database |
| Standard(s) | None (reference implementation) |
| Website | Mozilla Developer Center |
Mork is a computer file format used by several email clients and web browsers produced by Netscape, and later, Mozilla Foundation. It was developed by David McCusker[1] with the aim of creating a minimal database replacement that would be reliable, flexible, and efficient, and use a file format close to plain text.[2]
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[edit] Usage
The Mork format was used in most Mozilla-based projects, including the Mozilla browser suite, SeaMonkey, Firefox, and Thunderbird. In Firefox, it was used for browsing history data and form history data. In Thunderbird, it is still used for many things, such as address book data (.mab files) and the mail folder summaries (.msf files).
[edit] Criticisms
The conflicting requirements gave Mork several suboptimal qualities. For example, despite the aim of efficiency, storing Unicode text takes three or six bytes per character.
The file format has been severely criticized by Jamie Zawinski, a former Netscape engineer. He has lambasted the ostensibly "textual" format on the grounds that it is "not human-readable",[3] bemoaned the impossibility of writing a correct parser for the format,[4] and referred to it as "...the single most braindamaged file format that I have ever seen in my nineteen year career".[4]
In response, McCusker has argued that he "inherited" bad code, and merely fixed its scalability issues.[5]
[edit] Obsolescence
The upcoming replacement system, used for storing all user configuration data, is called MozStorage. MozStorage is based on the SQLite database. Beginning with Firefox 3.0, Firefox uses it for its history, form history and bookmark data. The storage engine was also included in Firefox 2.0, but only for use with extensions[6].
Plans exist for Mork to be replaced with MozStorage in the upcoming Thunderbird 3.0[7]. As of version 3.0 beta 1, Thunderbird still uses the Mork file format.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ http://developer.mozilla.org/en/Mork_What_Is_It
- ^ http://developer.mozilla.org/en/Mork_Why
- ^ http://www.jwz.org/hacks/mork.pl
- ^ a b Bug 241438 – please make history.dat easier to parse (i.e., not Mork)
- ^ http://web.archive.org/web/20050525080139/www.erys.org/resume/netscape/mork/jwz.html
- ^ Features cut from Firefox 2
- ^ Thunderbird 3 Planning
[edit] External links
- McCusker's description of the syntax
- Mork documents at the Mozilla Developer Center (MDC)
- Mozilla Wiki Mork page (including links to tools for reading Mork documents)
