From mboxrd@z Thu Jan  1 00:00:00 1970
X-Msuck: nntp://news.gmane.io/gmane.emacs.gnus.general/20297
Path: main.gmane.org!not-for-mail
From: Richard Coleman <coleman@math.gatech.edu>
Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.gnus.general
Subject: Re: OK, so how do I *use* MIME?
Date: Thu, 14 Jan 1999 11:11:36 -0500
Sender: owner-ding@hpc.uh.edu
Message-ID: <199901141611.LAA04276@math.gatech.edu>
References: <86zp7ldes3.fsf@kramer.bp.aventail.com>
NNTP-Posting-Host: coloc-standby.netfonds.no
X-Trace: main.gmane.org 1035158612 16983 80.91.224.250 (21 Oct 2002 00:03:32 GMT)
X-Complaints-To: usenet@main.gmane.org
NNTP-Posting-Date: Mon, 21 Oct 2002 00:03:32 +0000 (UTC)
Return-Path: <owner-ding@hpc.uh.edu>
Original-Received: from karazm.math.uh.edu (karazm.math.uh.edu [129.7.128.1])
	by sclp3.sclp.com (8.8.5/8.8.5) with ESMTP id LAA08207
	for <jason@mailhost.sclp.com>; Thu, 14 Jan 1999 11:13:33 -0500 (EST)
Original-Received: from sina.hpc.uh.edu (lists@Sina.HPC.UH.EDU [129.7.3.5])
	by karazm.math.uh.edu (8.9.1/8.9.1) with ESMTP id KAB21708;
	Thu, 14 Jan 1999 10:12:58 -0600 (CST)
Original-Received: by sina.hpc.uh.edu (TLB v0.09a (1.20 tibbs 1996/10/09 22:03:07)); Thu, 14 Jan 1999 10:11:42 -0600 (CST)
Original-Received: from sclp3.sclp.com (root@sclp3.sclp.com [204.252.123.139]) by sina.hpc.uh.edu (8.7.3/8.7.3) with ESMTP id KAA14521 for <ding@hpc.uh.edu>; Thu, 14 Jan 1999 10:11:34 -0600 (CST)
Original-Received: from math.gatech.edu (root@math.gatech.edu [130.207.146.50])
	by sclp3.sclp.com (8.8.5/8.8.5) with ESMTP id LAA08137
	for <ding@gnus.org>; Thu, 14 Jan 1999 11:11:28 -0500 (EST)
Original-Received: from math.gatech.edu (coleman@localhost [127.0.0.1])
	by math.gatech.edu (8.9.1/8.9.1) with ESMTP id LAA04276
	for <ding@gnus.org>; Thu, 14 Jan 1999 11:11:36 -0500 (EST)
Original-To: ding@gnus.org
In-Reply-To: Message from wmperry@aventail.com (William M. Perry) 
   of "14 Jan 1999 11:01:48 EST." <86zp7ldes3.fsf@kramer.bp.aventail.com> 
Precedence: list
X-Majordomo: 1.94.jlt7
Xref: main.gmane.org gmane.emacs.gnus.general:20297
X-Report-Spam: http://spam.gmane.org/gmane.emacs.gnus.general:20297

> > | ...The fact that
> > | application/x-gzip64 is an abomination is a totally different problem. :)
> > 
> > What is the proper MIME type for for base64 encoded gzip files ?
> > I've also seen plain "application/gzip"
> 
>   i assume one would need an appropriate content-transfer-encoding.  Not a
> content-type for this.  So you would have:
> 
> Content-type: application/x-tar
> Content-transfer-encoding: x-base64-gzip
> 
> [base64 gobbledygook]
> 
> I don't know if such a beast exists or not.  Or just have a content-type of 
> application/octet-stream and a content-transfer-encoding of 'base64' and
> let the user figure it out.

Defining your own CTE such as x-base64-gzip is strongly discouraged
by the MIME RFC's.  Most e-mail clients would be at a loss on how to
handle these.  Many would just bomb out and not even give you the
opportunity to save it to a file.

Since you would have to make arrangements beforehand on what the
format of these message would be, you might as will just use:

Content-transfer-encoding: base64
Content-type: application/x-gzip

and make arrangements on how to handle the file after the base64 is
removed.

--
Richard Coleman
coleman@math.gatech.edu