MessagePack (or "MsgPack") is a serialization format similar to JSON but binary. Unlike JSON but like TOML and YAML it distinguishes between byte arrays and strings and has a timestamp format (as an optional but standardized extension).
There are the following options for working with MessagePack in Tcl.
| Library | Type | Tcl versions | MsgPack spec version | License | Features |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| https://github.com/jdc8/msgpack | pure Tcl | 8.6, 9 | "new" (v5) | 3-clause BSD | Encoder, decoder, extension formats, timestamp |
| https://github.com/jdc8/tclmsgpack | Critcl C extension | 8.5, 8.6 | "old" (v4) | 3-clause BSD | Encoder, decoder |
| https://github.com/tkob/tclmessagepack | pure Tcl | 8.6, 9 | "new" (v5) | MIT | Decoder, extension formats |
| https://github.com/yuhangwang/MessagePack-Tcl | pure Tcl | 8.5, 8.6, 9 | "old" (v4) | MIT | Encoder, decoder, extension formats |