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Date: Sat, 12 Sep 2015 18:23:43 -0400
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From: DJ Delorie <dj AT delorie DOT com>
To: geda-user AT delorie DOT com
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Subject: Re: [geda-user] shortest way towards parsing .pcb files outside pcb
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Another option here is to switch to a file format that's already
supported by lots of other languages, like XML or YAML.  Then the
remaining work breaks down into:

* Deciding on a schema for the data

* converting pcb to read/write that schema

Scripts wouldn't *need* to use pcb's parser, they could use any old
parser library, since the scripts already know what the parts of the
schema they're interested in look like.  Read file, fiddle with the
parts you know, write file leaving everything else intact.