ietf-822
[Top] [All Lists]

Re: Content Types

1991-08-29 23:45:16
The idea of message medium information for composite objects is not a bad one,
but I don't think it is feasible to know that sort of thing at the right
level (in the UA, which is just packaging stuff up and probably does not
know how to read it to find out what's there). In most of the composite
formats I'm familiar with there is no easy way to find out what is inside
a given object instance. Indeed, this concept is so alien to the design
of such formats that I don't think you're going to see this change in the
future...

The message medium information when applied to something other than a
composite object is just a repeat of the top-level type, and I don't see
any reason to repeat this information in another context.

Note also that the top-level type is also useful for gateways that may be
able to convert/repackage material based on a top-level classification without
actually being able to read the material.

                                Ned

<Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread>