Jim Knowles writes:
I have been arguing on the Netfax list that we need to keep G3FAX in addition
to the Image/TIFF/Netfax subtype. The Netfax format can be any of G3, G3-2d,
G4 or uncompressed, which means it hides valuable information in the TIFF
wrapper. To simplify gateways, I'd like to be able to map X.400 fax body
parts directly. Mark's suggestion of FAX/G3 (and FAX/G4, etc.) has a lot of
appeal.
I'm neutral on this. As coauthor of RFC-XXXX, I would like to go whichever way
the NETFAX group goes. I can see arguments both ways -- a small number of types
is desireable, but flexibility and interoperability with a variety of software
is also useful.
I also like Mark's IMAGE/FAX/G3 and IMAGE/FAX/G4 types.
As far as additional IMAGE subtypes, I currently need GIF, PICT and PostScript
for my Fax gateway.
The PostScript type already exists -- it is a subtype of text-plus, I believe.
As for the others, I also need such things for _my_ software; there should be
no problem with publishing a supplementary RFC that lists a bunch of image
standards (say, the ones that are covered by the PBM toolkit) and the
recommended content-types to use for them. I doubt if this would be a
standards-track document, but RFCs to recommend "if you have to do this, do it
this way" have their place in the world too.
If you want to work on this off-line I'd be happy to help.
Ned