[30814] in North American Network Operators' Group
Re: ARIN Policy on IP-based Web Hosting (fwd)
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (multics@ruserved.com)
Thu Aug 31 12:48:22 2000
From: multics@ruserved.com
Message-Id: <200008311645.MAA28989@multics.ruserved.com>
To: nanog@merit.edu
Date: Thu, 31 Aug 2000 12:45:30 -0400 (EDT)
Reply-To: multics@ruserved.com
Cc: multics@ruserved.com
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Forwarded message:
> On Thu, 31 Aug 2000, 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.
>
> What's a file extension?
>
> --
> Alex Kamantauskas
> alexk@tugger.net
Depends on what machine you're on.
On MS-DOS/Windows, its the last part of the dotted filename, ie junk.txt
would be a text file of junk.c would be a C cource file.
Most Unix's are the same. The extension is the last component in a
period separated name.
I believe that on MacOS, BEOS and others, the extension information is
stored separately and not part of the name or may optionally be part of
the name.
That's also how web servers and web browsers know what to do with files
that have an html extension.
Unfortunatly, if the file being transported by the server or the browser
has a 'known' extension, the file will be processed by one or the other
or both. Once the file is processed, you can't save a copy that's
identical to what was sent. This is particulalry true as extensions do
not have to be unique. I've seen two or more applications use the same
extension and conflict with one known by a web browser. Click on the
link and you can't download the file, you just get junk on the screen.
--
Richard Shetron multics@ruserved.com multics@acm.rpi.edu NO UCE
What is the Meaning of Life? There is no meaning,
It's just a consequence of complex carbon based chemistry; don't worry about it
The Super 76, "Free Aspirin and Tender Sympathy", Las Vegas Strip.
