Re: Lynx/mime/.deb ?
"DS" == Dale Scheetz <dwarf@polaris.net> writes:
DS> On Sun, 11 Feb 1996, Bill Hogan wrote:
>>
>> I hope I have not asked this question too many times already, but
>> what is the correct Lynx/mime type for .deb files?
>>
...
DS> Lynx is an html browser, mime is an encryption method. What
DS> these have to do with Debian package file types is beyond me.
...
My question is not about "Debian package file types", but about
what *MIME* type I should assign to `.deb' files for the purposes of
Lynx.
If you have the same Debian-0.93 Lynx package installed as I have,
and you use it to access (say) ftp.microworld.net/debian/debian-0.93,
you should see something like the following.
--------------------------- quote --------------------------------
DEBIAN-0.93
Up to debian
Feb 11 13:53 text/plain .contents.new 1480Kb
Feb 9 08:24 Directory binary
Feb 11 08:24 Symbolic Link binary-i386
Jan 30 09:39 text/plain Contents 1480Kb
Jan 30 09:40 GNU Compressed Contents.gz 120Kb
Feb 3 10:03 Directory disks
Feb 9 08:24 Directory ms-dos
Feb 11 08:24 Symbolic Link Packages
Feb 3 07:16 Directory source
--------------------------- unquote ----------------------------
The third column in this table consists of what I am calling MIME
types.
You will note, for example, that whereas the MIME type of the file
`Contents' is `text/plain', the MIME type of the corresponding gzipped
file is `GNU Compressed'.
Ok? That's something that MIME types have to do with Lynx.
What do MIME types have to do with `.deb' files?
If we move from the above directory to subdirectory `base/comm', we
see this:
----------------------- quote ----------------------------
COMM
Up to binary
Oct 4 02:00 text/plain efax-07a-1.deb 68Kb
Sep 26 13:47 text/plain kermit.README 673 bytes
Jan 13 21:21 text/plain lrzsz-0.12a-1.deb 29Kb
Jan 20 21:22 text/plain minicom-1.71-5.deb 63Kb
Jun 5 1995 text/plain term-2.3.5-5.deb 202Kb
Sep 20 21:30 text/plain uucp-1.06.1-1.deb 731Kb
-------------------------- unquote -------------------------
Whoa!
The MIME type of all these `.deb' files is the same as the MIME
type of the file `kermit.README'!
Now, the thing that led me to come to post this inquiry was the
fact that I got tired of using Lynx to download `.deb' files only to
find they had been corrupted in transmission; eventually I noticed
what I have just pointed out and I wondered if that might be the
reason.
I have since figured out that I can change the file --> MIME-type
mapping that is (I think) compiled into the Lynx binary, by putting an
override in `/etc/lynx.rc', but it is still not clear to me *exactly*
what that override should be.
Cheers,
Bill
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