0 NAME and 0 FILE: to sync or not to sync?

[N. W. Perry]

NAME does not have to match the filename, its purpose is to name the following (single) model. This is useful when the model is not stored in its own file like when put into a email (pre attachments era).

So, does NAME not have to be a name+extension format, i.e. "something.ldr" or "anything.dat"?
Now that I think of it, NAME isn't defined anywhere except the official library header spec. That document says it "is the file name of the part"—but of course that only applies to library parts, not models.

The FILE meta didn't exist back then, this was later introduced as an extension to allow for multiple ldraw files in a single file. This also makes it easier to extract valid ldraw content from mixed text files.

Right, like back in the r.t.l days when files were appended to newsgroup messages.

So then, if NAME isn't required, you can use FILE instead to give names to the (sub)files. And if you do use NAME in an mpd subfile, you can just leave the name off of the FILE statement. Something like that?

And therefore…

Keeping them in sync or using NAME at all (outside omr) is purely up to the user.

…the only reason this comes up at all is if the user decides to use both. And that, I guess, should never be necessary, as NAME is only required in official parts (in which case it is required to be the filename), and official parts have no reason to appear in an mpd!

Am I figuring it out, or am I still confused?