Re: ARIN Policy on IP-based Web Hosting

[David Charlap <david.charlap () marconi com>]

Andrew Brown wrote:
> the mime type is made up, usually based on the file's extension, which
> is, of course, passed along with the contents of the file when you
> transfer it.  it's no extra information in this context.

Depends on the server.

On systems that have OS-level file typing (like MacOS - where a filename
has no relationship whatsoever to file type), the MIME type should be
derived from the OS-level file-type.

On systems that don't have OS-level file typing, and don't rely heavily
on file extensions (like UNIX), it would make sense for the server to
base a MIME type on something more than just the filename - perhaps
involving the file's content - similar to what the file(1) command does.

On systems where a file's name (extension, prefix, whatever) is the
primary means for determining a file's type (like Windows), it may make
sense for the server to base the MIME type on the name alone.

Of course, there are (and probably always will be) broken servers for
all systems.

-- David