Another type system proposal.

Original commit message from CVS:
Another type system proposal.

docs/random/types3

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+1. Introduction
+---------------
+
+The type system is used to attach meaning to the bytes in a GstBuffer.
+A plugin can decide to add metadata to the GstBuffer, this metadata
+will carry an associated typeid.
+
+Types are also used by the plugins to expose the type of their pads to
+the type system.
+
+Types are essential for autoplugging. 
+
+We will explain the inner workings of the type system in this document, as
+well as the API used in the plugins.
+
+2. major types
+--------------
+
+major types are identified with mime types and are used to denote a 
+family of types.
+
+More specific information about the type is given using properties. This
+will allow us to be very specific without creating a lot of mime types.
+
+3. API
+------
+
+Both a simple array based specification and a real API will be
+provided to build the capabilities. 
+
+In the array based approach, we basically build an array of pointers.
+Some macros will be available to specify ranges, boolean values, lists
+and id's. (not sure if this can be done)
+
+#define GST_TYPE_INT_RANGE(a, b) GST_TYPE_RANGE,(a),(b)
+#define GST_TYPE_BOOLEAN(a) GST_TYPE_BOOLEAN,(a)
+#define GST_TYPE_LIST(a...) GST_TYPE_LIST,(##a),NULL
+
+for example:
+
+  static GstTypeCapsFactory mpg123_sink_caps[] = {
+    "audio/mp3",
+    "layer", 	GST_TYPE_INT_RANGE (1, 3),
+    "bitrate",	GST_TYPE_INT_RANGE (8, 320),
+    "framed",	GST_TYPE_BOOLEAN (true),
+    NULL
+  };
+
+will expand to the array:
+
+  static GstTypeCapsFactory mpg123_sink_caps[] = {
+    "audio/mp3",
+    "layer", 	GST_TYPE_RANGE,1,3,
+    "bitrate",	GST_TYPE_RANGE,8,320,
+    "famed",	GST_TYPE_BOOLEAN,true,
+    NULL,
+  };
+
+when we register the caps factory, the strings will be converted
+into GQuarks and be stored into a GData Keyed Data List.
+
+This will result in a GstTypeCaps structure:
+
+struct _GstTypeCaps {
+  guint16 id;                 // if of the major type 
+
+  GData *properties;
+}
+
+4. example using arrays
+-----------------------
+
+mpg123: an mpeg audio decoder.
+
+  // a factory for the major type we use
+  static GstTypeFactory mp3factory = {
+    "audio/mp3",		// major type
+    ".mp3 .mp2 .mp1 .mpga",	// extenstions
+    NULL,			// typefind function
+  };
+
+  // capabilities of the sink pad
+  static GstTypeCapsFactory mpg123_sink_caps[] = {
+    "audio/mp3",
+    "layer", 	GST_TYPE_INT_RANGE (1, 3),
+    "bitrate",	GST_TYPE_INT_RANGE (8, 320),
+    "framed",	GST_TYPE_BOOLEAN (true),
+    NULL
+  };
+
+  // capabilities of the source pad
+  static GstTypeCapsFactory mpg123_src_caps[] = {
+    "audio/raw",
+    "rate", 	GST_TYPE_INT_RANGE (8000, 48000),
+    "channels",	GST_TYPE_INT_RANGE (1, 2),
+    NULL
+  };
+
+  static GstTypeCaps *sinkcaps = NULL, *rawcaps = NULL;
+
+  static gst_mpg123_init (GstMpg123 *mpg123) 
+  {
+    mpg123->sinpad = gst_pad_new ("sink", GST_PAD_SINK);
+    gst_element_add_pad (GST_ELEMENT (mpg123), mpg123->sinkpad);
+    gst_pad_set_caps (mpg123->sinkpad, sinkcaps);
+
+    ...
+  }
+
+  GstPlugin *plugin_init (GModule *module)
+  {
+    ...
+    plugin = gst_plugin_new ("mpg123");
+   
+    gst_plugin_add_type_factory (plugin, mp3factory);
+  
+    ...
+    sinkcaps = gst_type_register_caps (mpg123_sink_caps, NULL);
+    rawcaps  = gst_type_register_caps (mpg123_src_caps, NULL);
+    ...
+  }
+
+mpeg2dec: an mpeg video decoder that can do mpeg1 and mpeg2.
+
+  static GstTypeFactory mpegfactory = {
+    "video/mpeg",		// major type
+    ".mpg .mpeg",		// extenstions
+    NULL,			// typefind function
+  };
+
+  static GstTypeCapsFactory mpeg2dec_sink_caps[] = {
+    "video/mpeg",
+    "mpegtype", GST_TYPE_LIST (
+                        GST_TYPE_INT(1),
+                        GST_TYPE_INT(2),
+			),
+    NULL
+  };
+
+  static GstTypeCapsFactory mpeg2dec_src_caps[] = {
+    "video/raw",
+    "fourcc", 	GST_TYPE_LIST (
+                        GST_TYPE_INT32 (0x32315659), 
+			GST_TYPE_INT32 (0x32...), 
+			),
+    "width",	GST_TYPE_INT_RANGE (16, 4096),
+    "height",	GST_TYPE_INT_RANGE (16, 4096),
+    NULL
+  };
+
+  static GstTypeCaps *sinkcaps = NULL, *rawcaps = NULL;
+
+  GstPlugin *plugin_init (GModule *module)
+  {
+    ...
+    plugin = gst_plugin_new ("mpeg2dec");
+   
+    ...
+    sinkcaps = gst_type_register_caps (mpeg2dec_sink_caps, NULL);
+    rawcaps  = gst_type_register_caps (mpeg2dec_src_caps, NULL);
+    ...
+  }
+
+
+5. capabilty compatibility
+--------------------------
+
+Two pads are compatible if:
+
+- The major types are equal
+- range of the sink pad contains the range of the src pad
+ 
+