CatVer / CatList: what is it?

[papaschtroumpf]

I keep finding reference to CatVer file, even see where to download then mameword.com/catlist) but I can't find any explanation of what it is!
Help?

[SirPoonga]

Category and version info for roms.

There are two versions.

The more widely accepted
http://www.mameworld.net/catlist

And
http://www.catver.com

[Lilwolf]

specifies if a game is a fighter, a driving game, adult, what version of mame it was added..

Lots of good things...

Allows frontends to sort / filter by type of game instead of the name

[Howard_Casto]

Catver is the "official" version endorsed by mame.  Unfortunately it's terrbily inaccurate and useless for good filtering.  I think it's only the offical one because it's the original.  I commend the inventor, but in all honesty the original isn't so hot atm.

Catlist is far more detailed and actually accurate.  

However if you want vaguer categories and still want accuracy then download the genrever at the catlist site.  It's basically the "corrected" version of the original catver.