IPP Mail Archive: IPP> Re: MIME types

IPP> Re: MIME types

Larry Masinter (masinter@parc.xerox.com)
Sun, 14 Sep 1997 11:52:55 PDT

Tom,

I am not the authority on the IETF MIME registration proceedure,
I've just observed it in practice and have read the relevant RFCs.
I don't imply that these answers are authoritative.

I believe that the registrant for a "vnd.xxx-" designation
should logically be the owner of the "xxx-" trademark, and that
trying to register data types in the name of someone else is
a bad idea.

The type "application/auto-sense" doesn't make sense to me.
MIME types designate the type of enclosed content. If you don't
know the type, you can supply "application/octet-stream", if
you, for example, know absolutely nothing about the data type.
However, "application/unknown-print-file" might be a type for
designating "this is a file intended for shipping to an autosense
printer, but it isn't just some arbitrary bucket of bits."

As for whether you can reference a separate appendix of the
IPP model document, I think the requirements for having a public
specification are fairly generic.

Larry

-- 
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