Re: Unknown content types

Julian Reschke wrote:


> 1) If a sender (mail agent, HTTP server, ....) doesn't know the MIME type,
> specify "application/octet-stream" (note that RFC2616, section 7.2.1 [1]
> says "...SHOULD include a Content-Type header..."). In turn, allow
> recipients to override the supplied MIME type if and only if it equals
> "application/octet-stream" and to guess (for instance by peeking into the
> content).
> 
> or
> 
> 2) If a sender (mail agent) / server (HTTP server) doesn't know the MIME
> type, DO NOT SEND IT. This allows the recipient to guess and/or consult the
> user.
> 
> (my personal preference would be alternative 2 because it doesn't require to
> special-case one particular MIME type).

+1.

-- 
Cheers, Tim Bray
         (ongoing fragmented essay: http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/)