[Mongrel] [SURVEY] MIME types questions for Mongrel 1.0 RC1

[Jason A. Hoffman]

On Dec 6, 2006, at 2:19 PM, Zed A. Shaw wrote:
> I need people to answer a survey super quick for the next little  
> release of Mongrel.  Basically, nobody ever agrees on mime types,  
> especially defaults, which is why Mongrel has none and you set your  
> own.  Sometimes people just refuse to set their own and want  
> Mongrel to do everything for them, but if that happens then people  
> will complain about the defaults.
>
> Damned if I do, damned if I don't.
>
> So, let's put this to the test:
>
> 1) Should Mongrel support a larger set of default mime types?
> 2) What should those defaults be?  Post a YAML file somewhere so I  
> can compare the various answers.
> 3) What should be the default mime type if a file doesn't match?
> 3a) Where do you get this default?
> 4) Would anyone object to Mongrel moving the default mime type list  
> into a YAML file in the source tree that it loads?  **You'd still  
> be able to override like normal.**
> 5) If your favorite web server does it a particular way, do you  
> actually think this is the real standard or just what that web  
> server does?
> 5a) Do you think this default could be improved on depending on the  
> situation?  Think development vs. production deployments.
>
> Being the most vocal or ranting will get your votes discounted.   
> Keep it rational and support it with external evidence, not  
> rhetoric.  People can go round in circles forever over something  
> this idiotically simple.
>
> I'm indifferent BTW, just annoyed at more work on mime types so I'd  
> like to put it to rest once and for all and make whatever seems to  
> be the most popular as the mongrel policy.
>
> Finally, if nobody has an opinion then I'll just leave it as-is in  
> order to get Mongrel 1.0 RC1 out.
>
> Thanks for your time.

I'm indifferent as well from the userside of things but I suspect  
that if you did support a larger set it could make your support life  
easier.

If you want something that might be "quick and easy" (and I put that  
in quotes because I'm talking out of my ass and it might not be easy  
outside of hey-here-is-a-file) I've just added to apache's default  
etc/mime.types over the last 2.5 years of textdrive, and if that just  
copied over and put into a mimetypes.yml

A fine default is application/octet-stream  or plain text.

Regards, Jason