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Comment by hot_gril | Hacker News Reader

There's a solid chance that the schema gives away what DBMS is being used. But even if it didn't, I'd still call it a file layout in this context.

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The DBMS is almost definitely going to be mentioned in RFP or specification documentation. As it was in this lawsuit.

The gov't releasing the hardware and software licencing used in CANVAS already gives that away.

So?

So if you have the schema and the DBMS, you probably know how data is arranged in the files ("files" in the filesystem sense).

Is your argument that government agencies should also withhold the names of filing cabinet manufacturers? :)

Just that it's a file layout. Or even if you strictly define a file layout as say an ext4, NTFS, or FAT file tree, that revealing the schema is revealing the file layout.

I don't know why they don't want to reveal file layouts, but for whatever reason, they decided it was "per se" exempt regardless of the security implications.

It's obviously not a file format. The same SQL schema can generate N different files, with N different layouts, for N different databases. By the logic you're using ("schema" + "database vendor" = "file format"), a Word document outline is also a file format.

The parent asks "how is it not a file layout" not "can you guess the file layout?" given it.

I am a human, you know I have a kidney, but I am not a kidney.

If you send a copy of the code, is that sending the code? If it is, what about sending a copy of the code with a Caesar Shift?

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