+/* Prototypes of the functions that handle the properties */
+XBT_PUBLIC_DATA(xbt_dict_t) current_property_set; /* the prop set for the currently parsed element (also used in SIMIX) */
+void parse_properties(void);
+void free_string(void*);
+
+/* Prototypes for functions handling routing and were factorized succesfully from the models */
+void init_route_table(void);
+void make_route_table(void);
+void parse_route_elem(void);
+
+/* surf parse file related */
+void parse_platform_file(const char* file);