At 09:11 PM 1/19/99 +0100, Yann Stettler wrote:
>Why ? The mime-type is also based on the file extension so it
>amount to the same. You could actualy implement the mime-type
>format into SWISH but that's an over-kill...

Although a web server can (I'll even say usually) determine the mime type
from the extension, it is also completely free to ignore it.  Apache
supports the ForceType directive:
  http://www.apache.org/docs/mod/mod_mime.html#forcetype

The last line of documentation for the directive states "... this will
override any filename extensions that might determine the media type."

>Hu, I don't realy understand you : You say that you don't agree
>with me, that the only way is to use the file extension... and
>that's exactly what I suggest to do. I just say that SWISH
>don't need to get the mime-type from the server to know that
>a ".jpg" is not of "text/*" type...

Let me try to state it differently.  As I have said elsewhere, I object to
using the file extension to determine the type when using the HTTP access
method.  The only way I can see to implement a NoContents directive like
you suggest would be to rely on the file extension.

>2) Many server use database to generate semi-static documents.
>   Those documents generaly doesn't change (for example, newspaper
>   articles, catalog descriptions) but are the result of a query
>   on the database passed directly in the URL.
>   It would be impossible to list all the "possible" meaning less
>   extension but we definitively want to index those documents...

I don't see this as strengthening your suggestion.  If a URL doesn't have
an extension that easily maps to a type (for example .cgi or a URL then
ends with a /) then Swish will still need to make the request to see if the
document is indexable; just like it does now!

I believe that the fundamental disagreement here is whether the extension
of a URL positively identifies the type of the document.

moo


----------------------------------------------------------------------
          Ron Klatchko - Manager, Advanced Technology Group           
           UCSF Library and Center for Knowledge Management           
                           ron@ckm.ucsf.edu