Re: Comments on: "Character Set" Considered Harmful

Bob Jung (bobj@netscape.com)
Fri, 28 Apr 95 23:02:00 EDT

At 9:18 PM 4/28/95, Gavin Nicol wrote:
>>>>>How does your server know how to label the content it sends?
>>>>
>>>>The server can configure the "charset parameter" on a file or directory
>>>
>>>Can't you apply the same mechanism to file: URL's?
>>
>>Where would the browser look for this type of configuration data?
>
>Where does the server look for such data?

The server has a config file that it reads upon restart. This config file
tells it various things about the data it is serving.

If a browser opens a random file, it does not even know if it's on a local
filesystem. The file could be on a foreign file system from another OS.
The browser cannot know what config file to look for.

-Bob

--
Bob Jung        bobj@netscape.com       +1 415 528-2688, fax +1 415 528-4122
Netscape Communications Corp.   501 E. Middlefield      Mtn View, CA   94041