IPP Mail Archive: IPP> Re: MIME multipart/* vs HTTP
IPP> Re: MIME multipart/* vs HTTP
Dave Kristol (
dmk@bell-labs.com)
Wed, 30 Apr 1997 11:55:51 -0400
Scott Lawrence wrote:
> [...]
> IPP> There was also a question about how to send binary data in a
> IPP> multipart/mixed, especially in the chunked case because there is
> IPP> no way to know if a CRLF in the midst of binary data is really a
> IPP> CRLF. Thus it is hard to find the boundary string.
>
> CRLF is what it is - if it is in the binary data and is followed by
> the specified boundary string and another CRLF then you are at the
> end of the body part. What is the question?
>
> As I understand it, the selection of a boundary string in MIME is
> already 'probabilistic'; the sender is responsible for choosing a
> string that 'probably' won't appear in the body (I do not claim to
> be an authority on MIME).
In my ignorance of MIME, I've been puzzled about this boundary
business. Assuming each multipart contains a Content-Length header,
does it matter what the boundary is? Can't the recipient just eat the
number of content bytes before looking for the next boundary? If so,
the boundary strings don't have to be particularly clever, do they?
Dave Kristol