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http://nagoya.apache.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=23421 Remove AddDefaultCharset from httpd.conf as shipped Summary: Remove AddDefaultCharset from httpd.conf as shipped Product: Apache httpd-2.0 Version: HEAD Platform: All URL: http://cvs.apache.org/viewcvs.cgi/httpd- 2.0/docs/conf/httpd-std.conf.in OS/Version: All Status: NEW Severity: Major Priority: Other Component: Core AssignedTo: [email protected] ReportedBy: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Apache 2.0 currently ships with "AddDefaultCharset iso-8859-1" in httpd.conf. This should be fixed (by commenting out or removing it, or replacing it with AddDefaultCharset Off) and the comment in httpd.conf should be corrected, for the following reasons: 1) Charset information is important, but no charset information is much preferable to wrong charset information (contrary to what the comment in httpd.conf says). 2) Many document formats have their own internal way to specify character encoding. It is often sufficient to rely on these. It is often easier, for document authors and administrators, to make sure these are correct, than to make sure that the served headers are correct. 3) In most parts of the world, including Europe and the Americas (because of windows-1252), there is rarely any server that contains only iso-8859-1 documents, and there is rarely any server administrator who knows the encodings of all the served documents (if s/he is even aware of character encoding issues). 4) Upgraders from Apache 1.3 to Apache 2.0 often overlook this setting, resulting in large numbers of files served wrongly with charset=iso-8859-1, and an increasing number of complaints to ISPs and Web hosters. Fixing this bug would make upgrading easier and more predictible, and would reduce complaints to hosters that they have difficulties to address because they are not familiar with character encoding issues. 5) In order to override the setting (and assuming users know how to do this), users have to have FileInfo permissions for their .htaccess files. httpd.conf as shipped contains an example of settings for UserDir directories and similar cases where the users are allowed some amount of configuration, but this is commented out. So the chance is high users don't have a chance to fix the problem, even if they know the correct encoding of their document and the correct way to set the HTTP header. 6) The oft-cited default of iso-8859-1 for HTTP is something that exists on only paper, but not at all in practice. If it were observed in practice, "AddCharsetDefault iso-8859-1" would be unnecessary. Because the default is not observed, this setting is harmful. 7) The comment in httpd.conf claims that this setting is a good start for internationalization. This ignores the fact that many hosts already contain a lot of internationalized documents. In connection with this, the documentation for AddDefaultCharset should be updated to clearly point out the potential dangers of using it (i.e. only use this if you know the character encoding of the majority of the documents on your server, and you know what the exceptions are and make sure they are set correctly). --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
