MIME Content Type for BinHex Encoded Files
RFC 1741
Document | Type |
RFC - Informational
(December 1994; No errata)
Was draft-faltstrom-macmime2 (individual)
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Authors | Dave Crocker , Erik Fair , Patrik Fältström | ||
Last updated | 2013-03-02 | ||
Stream | Legacy stream | ||
Formats | plain text html pdf htmlized (tools) htmlized bibtex | ||
Stream | Legacy state | (None) | |
Consensus Boilerplate | Unknown | ||
RFC Editor Note | (None) | ||
IESG | IESG state | RFC 1741 (Informational) | |
Telechat date | |||
Responsible AD | (None) | ||
Send notices to | (None) |
Network Working Group P. Faltstrom Request for Comments: 1741 Royal Institute of Technology Category: Informational D. Crocker Brandenburg Consulting E. Fair Apple Computer Inc. December 1994 MIME Content Type for BinHex Encoded Files Status of this Memo This memo provides information for the Internet community. This memo does not specify an Internet standard of any kind. Distribution of this memo is unlimited. Abstract This memo describes the format to use when sending BinHex4.0 files via MIME [BORE93]. The format is compatible with existing mechanisms for distributing Macintosh files. Only when available software and/or user practice dictates, should this method be employed. It is recommended to use application/applefile [FALT94] for maximum interoperability. 1. Introduction Files on the Macintosh consists of two parts, called forks: DATA FORK: The actual data included in the file. The Data fork is typically the only meaningful part of a Macintosh file on a non-Macintosh computer system. For example, if a Macintosh user wants to send a file of data to a user on an IBM-PC, she would only send the Data fork. RESOURCE FORK: Contains a collection of arbitrary attribute/value pairs, including program segments, icon bitmaps, and parametric values. Additional information regarding Macintosh files is stored by the Finder has in a hidden file, called the "Desktop Database". Because of the complications in storing different parts of a Macintosh file in a non-Macintosh filesystem that only handles consecutive data in one part, it is common to convert the Macintosh file into some other format before transferring it over the network. Faltstrom, Crocker & Fair [Page 1] RFC 1741 Content Type for BinHex Files December 1994 AppleDouble file format [APPL90], encoded in MIME as multipart/appledouble [FALT94] and application/applefile [FALT94] is the preferred format for a Macintosh file that is to be included in an Internet mail message, because it provides recipients with Macintosh computers the entire document, including Icons and other Macintosh specific information, while other users easily can extract the Data fork (the actual data). However, this specification provides for use of the currently popular BinHex4.0 encoding schemes, as a convinience to the installed base of users. 2. MIME format for BinHex4.0 MIME-base Apple information is specified by: MIME type-name: APPLICATION MIME subtype name: MAC-BINHEX40 Required parameters: none Optional parameters: NAME, which must be a "value" as defined in RFC-1521 [BORE93]. Encoding considerations: none Security considerations: See separate section in the document Published specification: Appendix A Rationale: Permits MIME-based transmission of data with Apple Macintosh file system specific information using a currently popular, though platform specific, format. 2a. Detail specific to MIME-based usage Macintosh documents do not always need to be sent in a special format. Those documents with well-known MIME types and non- existent or trivial resource forks can be sent as regular MIME body parts, without use of AppleSingle, AppleDouble or BinHex4.0. Documents which lack a data fork must be sent as AppleSingle according to RFC 1740 [FALT94]. Unless there are strong reasons not to, all other documents should be sent as AppleDouble according to RFC 1740 [FALT94]. This includes documents with non-trivial resource forks, and documents without corresponding well-known MIME types. It may be valuable in some cases to allow the user to choose one format over another, either because he disagrees with the implementor's definition of "trivial" resource forks, or for reasons of his own. Faltstrom, Crocker & Fair [Page 2] RFC 1741 Content Type for BinHex Files December 1994 Only when available software and/or user practice dictates, should BinHex 4.0 be employed. 3. BinHex BinHex 4.0 is a propular means of encoding Macintosh files for archiving on non-Macintosh file systems and for transmission viaShow full document text