Hello trid users,
some days days ago i run ccleaner tool. One item under Registry is called
"Unused files extension". When i run this program component it complains about
unused filename extension rdb.
So i looked on my systems for such files. Such samples are part of StarOffice,
OpenOffice, LibreOffice programs. There seems to exist different
variants. Here i will consider one binary based variants.
So i run trid utility on such rdb files. The samples are described as
"Unknown!" (See appended output/trid-v-old.txt).
For comparison reason i also run file command (version 5.44) on such
output/file-5.44.txt). Unfortunately no file name suffix is shown (see
appended output/file-ext-5.44.txt) and only generic application/octet-stream
mime type is shown (see appended output/file-i-5.44.txt).
For comparison reason i also run the file format identification utility DROID
(See
https://sourceforge.net/projects/droid/). Here the examples are also not
recognized.
I and other people often complaining about Microsoft behaviour, but open
software is also not the holy grail in every field. Such RDB samples are used
and installed by StarOffice, OpenOffice and LibreOffice, but the file type is
not officially registered or you find no sufficient file specification. Some
people say "may the source be with you", but when unpacking new LibreOffice
packages if get about 1 GB of sources. Unfortunately i have not enough
expertise and time to find there the needed explanations.
At least i find a page about Writing UNO Components in LibreOffice Developer's
Guide. So i use this as reference URL. This is expressed by line like:
<RefURL>
https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Documentation/DevGuide/Writing_UNO_Components </RefURL>
Interesting is mentioned regview Program. This list for given RDB file the
registry data-base tree in readable format like by command like:
regview user52.rdb > output\user52.txt
This does not work with the XML based variants. When running the tool i get
error message like:
open registry "types.rdb" failed
Unfortunately things become more complicated. By the generated rdb.trid.xml
also Office URD (Uno Reflection Data) samples like XNumberText.urd are
matched. Unfortunately i do not know if there exist a method to distinguish
such RDB from URD samples. So both suffix are used inside TrID definition.
This is expressed by line like:
<Ext>RDB/URD</Ext>
I am also not sure that here the same things are described as in the XML based
variant. So i choose name mentioned in the documentation. So this expressed by
line like:
<FileType>StarOffice/OpenOffice/LibreOffice registry data base</FileType>
In newer versions i only found the XML based variants. I have tested following
versions:
4.2.0.0
4.4.7.2
5.0.0.0
6.0.0.3
7.0.0.0
In older versions of LibreOffice i found both variants. I have tested
following versions:
3.5.7.2
3.6.7.2
4.0.6.2
4.1.0.0
4.1.6.2
I found also test predecessor offices suites , There i also find the binary
variant. I have tested following versions:
StarOffice 5.2
OpenOffice 3.2
OpenOffice 4.1.7
So i mentioned this fact in remark line. I also keep all XML constructs at the
moment because i do not know what parts are relevant. Even worse there seems
to exist a third variant.
With the new trid definition such binary RDB data bases are now described (see
appended output/trid-v-new.txt). TrID definitions, few samples and output are
stored in archive rdb_CSMH.zip. I hope that my definition can be used i future
version of triddefs.
With best wishes
Jörg Jenderek
