Re(2): [vorbis-dev] Mime Type and Ogg (More)

[Maciej Stachowiak]

Ralph Giles <giles at a3a32260.sympatico.bconnected.net> writes:

> On 15 Oct 2000, Maciej Stachowiak wrote:
> 
> > So in conclusion, let's not let the fact that ogg is an amazingly
> > flexible file format lead us astray. In the end, files have to be
> > identifiable in ways that are semantically meaningful to the user,
> > because higher level applications will have to know how to help the
> > user use those files with the most appropriate application.
> 
> I may well be arguing from the program's point of view. Jack is supporting
> your point when he says things like "ogg123 will probably continue to play
> only audio streams." But it does seem to me that mime has a poor 
> conceptualization of container formats, so the distinction isn't as
> clear-cut as you suggest. What's the mime-type for .tar.gz? Is that a
> 'special case' in nautilus?
>
> Not to say we demand representation on par with tar! :-)
> 

Yes, MIME does not work very well with container formats, particularly
ones like tar where sometimes you want to treat it as a unit, and
sometimes as a container where you can browse the contents. Nautilus
actually does not have the feature to browse into tar files and treat
them like directories yet, but it will. For .tar.gz files that
represent something semantically higher-level than just a generic
container, like a Gtk+ theme or the like, I hope to convince people to
use meaningful extensions and a gzip type tagging tool I am working on
(the gzip format actually has space to put in an arbitrarily sniffable
magic number).

But handling of tar files and compressed files and other such stuff is
a pretty broken area in most file managers; it's very hard to get
right becaust it doesn't want to play nice with the mime type
framework. Tar has the excuse of being originally designed on ancient
character-based command-line systems for purposes of tape
backup. However, Ogg has no excuse for not fitting in well with a
modern system.

 - Maciej

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