(2020-04-24, 18:24)N. W. Perry Wrote: Per the topic at hand, my thought was that if we did have our own cross-reference DB, could it have certain checks built in, like redirecting alias or obsolete parts, just to avoid having to rely on RB to respond to change requests? I think the value here is in automating the export itself, not concerning ourselves with the accuracies of inventories.
I'm not really interested in reinventing the wheel. BL, Rebrickable, BrickOwl, even Peeron have extensive set inventory databases. Most of them have API that make querying them easy. What I like about Rebrickable, and why I want to support them, is that they also have a MOC inventory side. I'd rather the bulk of the cross referencing be done by others (e.g. Rebrickable) and "fill in the gaps" when those services are unable (or unwilling) to work with us. Basically, our database would be small and consist of edge cases.