Brickle: Compressed Python Objects

Brickle file: Content format

Brickle is not technically a data format. It is rather a file containing a pickled Python object that has been compressed with brotli. The name “brickle” can be a

  • portmanteau of “brotli” and “pickle”

  • suggestion that the file is supposed to contain a Python object that has been compressed into a dense brick of data

  • deliberate misspelling of a neighborhood in Miami, FL

As a brickle file can contain any Python object, the structure of the object’s data itself is of more interest than the file format. See Data Structures for information on the data structures.

Brickle file: Path format

Brickle file extensions

SEISMIC-RNA accepts the following extensions for brickle files:

  • .brickle

Brickle path parsing

Brickle files use a variety of path structures throughout SEISMIC-RNA. They are most commonly used to store batches of data, in which case the file name follows the format {btype}-batch-{bnum}.brickle, where {btype} is the type of the batch and {bnum} is the number of the batch (the first batch in each set is numbered 0).

Brickle file: Uses

Brickle as input file

Brickle files are not explicitly passed as input files via the command line, but when a report file that is associated with brickle files is passed as an input file, the brickle files will be read. This process happens during the following commands:

  • all

  • mask

  • cluster

  • table

Brickle as output file

  • The relate, mask, and cluster commands all output brickle files containing data along with their report files.

Brickle as temporary file

Brickle files are not used as temporary files by any command.