Subject: RFC 2936 on HTTP MIME Type Handler Detection

From: RFC Editor <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 27 Sep 2000 12:09:16 -0700

A new Request for Comments is now available in online RFC libraries.

        RFC 2936

        Title:	    HTTP MIME Type Handler Detection
        Author(s):  D. Eastlake, C. Smith, D. Soroka
        Status:     Informational
	Date:       September 2000
        Mailbox:    [email-masked],
                    [email-masked], [email-masked]  
        Pages:      13
        Characters: 25238
        Updates/Obsoletes/SeeAlso:  None

        I-D Tag:    draft-ietf-trade-mime-detector-03.txt

        URL:        ftp://ftp.isi.edu/in-notes/rfc2936.txt

Entities composing web pages to provide services over the Hypertext
Transfer Protocol (HTTP) frequently have the problem of not knowing
what Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) types have handlers
installed at a user's browser.  For example, whether an Internet Open
Trading Protocol (IOTP) or VRML or SET or some streaming media handler
is available.  In some cases they would want to display different web
pages or content depending on a MIME handler's availability.  This
document summarizes reasonable techniques to solve this problem for
most of the browsers actually deployed on the Internet as of early
2000.  It is intended to be of practical use to implementors during
the period before the wide deployment of superior standards based
techniques which may be developed.

This document is a product of the Internet Open Trading Protocol
Working Group of the IETF.

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not specify an Internet standard of any kind.  Distribution of this
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Joyce K. Reynolds and Sandy Ginoza
USC/Information Sciences Institute

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