Re: lynx-dev mime.types file seems inactive

[David Woolley]

> I'm trying to teach LYNX v2.8 to give the "download" dialog for .mp2
> and .mP3 files similarly to how it does for .zip files.  Right

HTTP assumes the server knows the type of file and sends the correct
media type code.  Therefore mime-types are NOT used for HTTP.

Unfortunately, Microsoft have taken the view that it is better that the
browser take precedence, presumably with the aim that Microsoft don't
get blamed for misconfigured servers.  This has resulted in even more
misconfigured servers, in a similar way to that in which the tolerance
of broken HTML has produced more broken HTML, and I believe Netscape
have followed suit, at least for their Microsoft platform versions, which
will mean yet more misconfigured servers.

This is actually worse than the broken HTML problem, as MSIE will sometimes
infer an incorrect media type, e.g. a plain text sample of HTML source will
be rendered by IE as though it were HTML.  Note that Microsoft are 
ignoring their registry equivalent of mime-types here, and looking at
the actual content.

A contributing factor in this case is that a lot of mp2/3 material is
in breach of copyright and loaded onto bundled web space, double reasons
for the service provider not to make any attempt to do things properly.

The way to handle such mis-labelled material is to explicitly download it
(d commmand).  If you still want to use Lynx, mime-types will work on the
local copy because there is no longer a more authorative media type
indication.

If Lynx is to be bloated to cover this sort of situation, I don't think
it should automatically use the file extension.  It may be reasonable to
add a use file extension option to the download or cancel prompt if
there is no known handler for the media type.  However, if there is a
handler (and many servers are configured to default to text/plain)
I think a user controlled option should have to be set before it does
anything other than obey the declared media type; one variation of that
option should include a choice between using the declared type and using
that implied by the file extension.