Re: request for application/smil

Phillip,

I saw the thread on ietf-xml-mime [1] in which you discuss SMIL's MIME type 
with Makoto Murata.  While I understand your reasoning, I still think it a 
bad idea to not to push for a more complaint MIME type.

I'm currently writing a generic XML processor capable of serving and 
updating arbitrary portions of an XML tree (with complete locking 
capabilities, etc.).  I pretty much would like my server to work with any 
XML file, but if we continue the trend that SMIL is setting, the only way I 
can make sure I can handle an arbitrary XML file is by enumerating all 
possible MIME types.  This is not a scalable solution.

As XML matures, I can see an increasing number of applications that 
streamline storage/retrieval of XML-based documents.  As soon as XML QL 
group is done with its work, we will also see a surge of XML 
databases.  All these applications will rely on MIME types to recognize XML 
documents.

While keeping SMIL's type as application/smil will satisfy most people's 
current needs, I think it will seriously hurt SMIL's usefulness in the 
future, especially in high production environments where batch processing 
is a must.

Regardless of whether Makoto Murata's proposal [2] shall be finalized or 
not, IMHO it is clear that there will be a standard mechanism in practice 
for assigning mime types to XML based documents.  I think that your 
proposal should deprecate application/smil in favor of such a 
mechanism.  This way, SMIL tool developers will have enough time to adjust 
and, hopefully, we can have a smooth transition from application/smil to 
applications/smil-xml or whatever other recommendation ietf-xml-mime WG 
will come up with.

Best regards
Dmitry Beransky


[1] http://www.imc.org/ietf-xml-mime/mail-archive/threads.html#00315
[2] http://www.imc.org/draft-murata-xml

Received on Monday, 24 January 2000 13:05:18 UTC