> > > > Everything is an encoding. HTML is an encoding. MP3 is an encoding. > > > ASCII is an encoding. All digital data on a computer is an encoding > > > of some sort. Purpose *absolutely* matters. > > > > > > > All of those are more than an encoding. They apply some meaning to the > > data. > > > > As you say, purpose matters. There is no purpose to data just because > it's > > gzipped. > > False. The purpose is to take up less space. >
That's why you compressed it. That's not the purpose of the data. > > But how does mime-support identify what the file type is? It can't... > > > because the file type of *this file* is gzip data, and you've not > > > provided a type for that. > > > > It's smart. It recognizes the indication that the data has been > > compressed and then uncompresses it before using the type of the > > data to determine the proper destination. > > No, HTTP does this. MIME, as I have said repeatedly, has ABSOLUTELY > NO PROVISION to do this. You didn't ask about MIME. You asked about how "mime-support" does it. My program is smart. > > Gzipped data is not a type. > > It absolutely is. Your failure to recognize this simple fact is the > sole reason that your mime package is broken and that some mail > programs have trouble correctly dealing with gzip files. Just because other systems associate a type with a .gz extension does not mean that is correct. It's an encoding. You want to assign a type to it because you believe it will make things work better. > > Yes, with a type, some mail programs may better handle the file > > because it won't treat it as text but dumping the uncompressed > > output isn't any better. > > The point is they will do no such thing. They will correctly > recognize these files as compressed archives, and allow the user to do > what is intended to be done with them: store them on disk compressed. > That makes no sense at all. Disks don't care about the "type" of the data so data, compressed or not, can *always* be stored on disk. MIME has nothing to do with that. > That is the purpose of gzipped files. To be stored in less space than > they would otherwise occupy. Providing a type allows mail clients to > do exactly that. Not providing one causes them (in at least some > cases) to fail. > Fail how? > > > Then fix Apache. Or explain why other Linux distros which do have > > > these types (e.g. most any Red-Hat based distro) don't have this > > > problem... > > > > > > > Apache used to come with its own mime.types file independent of the > > system. The Debian package used the system one. > > So, in other words, Debian broke it. Debian failed to recognize that > MIME and HTTP treat data types differently, and continues to do so. > And instead of fixing it properly, Debian decided to break MIME to > make it work for HTTP. Brilliant. > Hindsight is always perfect. > > *You* fix apache! And fix all previous releases. And push that change > to > > every Debian-based webserver on Earth. Then we can talk. > > There's nothing to do, except for debian to reverse it's > ill-conceived, broken policy decision. And fixing that is exactly > what I'm attempting to do now. Unfortunately I lack the required > access to make the necessary change. > You can always build your own mime-support package from source and install that on your own workstations. Brian bcwh...@pobox.com ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Treat someone as they are and they will remain that way. Treat someone as they can be and they will become that way.
