Prefixed Information

The layout of an RSB file at its most basic level is "magic numbers - version - tag tree." The tag tree is discussed more thoroughly in the next chapter.

Magic Numbers

At the beginning of every RSB file, the UTF-8 string rrtkstrmbldr appears.

Version

Immediately following the magic numbers, the RSB specification version appears. It is formatted as four u8s, usually called 'major,' 'minor,' 'patch,' and 'pre.' The first three are identical to the major, minor, and patch components of the specification's semi-semantic version. The 'pre' strays from strict semantic versioning however: Instead of matching one of its numbers, it begins at 0 with the first prerelease and increments by 1 with each subsequent one, regardless of whether it's an alpha, beta, or something else. It is always equal to 255 in stable versions.