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To: Helge Blischke <H.Blischke@srz-berlin.de>
cc: Dave Abercrombie <Dave@DaveNGrace.com>, tiff@olympiakos.com
Subject: Re: What is the proper number of bytes in a TIFF 6.0 "word" 
In-reply-to: <3A5F837B.4FB7@srz-berlin.de> 
References: <3A5F7BB0.17C90AA0@DaveNGrace.com> <3A5F837B.4FB7@srz-berlin.de>
Comments: In-reply-to Helge Blischke <H.Blischke@srz-berlin.de>
	message dated "Fri, 12 Jan 2001 23:21:47 +0100"
Date: Fri, 12 Jan 2001 20:04:41 -0500
Message-ID: <24552.979347881@sss.pgh.pa.us>
From: Tom Lane <tgl@sss.pgh.pa.us>
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Helge Blischke <H.Blischke@srz-berlin.de> writes:
> If you look at figure 1 (page 14 of the spec), I think it is clear that
> a "word" is meant
> to be a 2 byte quantity, though the spec doesn't define this term.

Clearer evidence is had from the text defining an IFD entry (at the
top of page 15, in my copy of 6.0):

"The Value is expected to begin on a word boundary; the corresponding
Value Offset will thus be an even number."

If it meant 4-byte alignment, it would say "will thus be divisible
by four".

I agree that the terminology is now a bit dated, but I don't see how
you can possibly read this part of the spec any other way.  "Even
number" is a well-defined term in my part of the world.

Years ago I made a list of a bunch of wording improvements I was
intending to propose for TIFF 7.0, and I think this "word" business was
one of them.  Too bad we (the TAC) never got a chance to have any input
on a 7.0 ...

			regards, tom lane

