Re: Determine mime type of a file

[Marco <netuse@...>]

On 2011-05-02 steve donovan <steve.j.donovan@gmail.com> wrote:

> On Mon, May 2, 2011 at 11:32 AM, Marco <netuse@lavabit.com> wrote:
> > What do you  mean by catalog? A file  extension - mime
> > type mapping?
>
> That is exactly what the Gnome MIME XML files provide.

Thanks for the pointer, I'll have a look at it.

> > That would quickly break when  a file has no extension
> > (file -i is not confused by this).
>
> Well, if we can't find it,

Can't find what? The “file” executable, the extension, the
mime type? Anyway…

> then we  have to  give some  default, like text/plain or
> application/binary.

That makes no sense in my case, since all files are binary
and I have to test for a particular type.

> A  portable solution  would  start with  a  list of  the
> common registered  MIME types,  and encode  it as  a Lua
> table.

Apparently  there  doesn't  seem   to  be  a  “file”  like
implementation in lua. I'll precede as follows:

1) Check if “file” binary is available, if not
2) check if  file has  extension,  if yes,  compare to  a
   mapping list, if not
3) assume (possibly valid) file as invalid.


Thanks, for the quick answers

Marco