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.
The type/subtype identifier still bothers me a lot. In the Altanta meeting
I thought that we were moving away from the type/subtype identifier.
If we still keep this type/subtype identifier, can someone provide me a
guideline how one should pick a proper type for a subtype? Postscript is
a very "tricky" subtype. It is text-plus in general sense, but it can be
image (e.g. Encapsulated Postscript is treated as image on NeXT), or it
can be executable (e.g. NeWS.)
Here is another example for consideration. Interleaf (a software publisher
vendor) can store its document in 2 formats: ASCII (7-bit mailable) format
and binary format. Assume that "interleaf" is a registered subtype, should
this vendor provide 2 different type/subtypes: "text-plus/interleaf" and
"application/interleaf"? Or simply only 1 type: "application/interleaf".
Another example is "script" language. In Unix environment, shell script
can be either executed or editable. What type should this document
belong to? To complicate the situation, if the sender's intention of the
script is for execution, but the receiver's implementation is for viewing.
Then there is an interoperability problem. The RFC-XXXX is not clear
how this "type/subtype" should be handled.
-Vincent