A quick note for anyone running the NCSA httpd server from jazz (also of
interest for anyone <like me> who's had trouble getting binaries from
jazz...)
 
If you plan on making binaries available from httpd, you should ensure
that the files are served in binary mode.  This is of no concern if you
are downloading the files to another bytestream file system (Un*x, HP-UX,
or MPE/iX) directly since they come out the same way they go in, but if
you are using Netscape/Mosaic/etc from a PC it spells trouble.  It will
appear to work, but when you get the file on the host, it is toast.
It's the same problem as FTP'ing a binary file without setting binary
mode first.  So what's going on?
 
httpd sends the client a "Content-type:" tag to identify items.  The item
type can be inferred from the file extension, and a configurable table of
MIME types and file extensions is kept in httpd_1.3/conf/mime.types
 
If there is no match, httpd serves "Content-type: text/plain".  In the
jazz distribution, there were no definitions for .Z (compressed) or
.R (Ryder) extensions, among others.  I would suggest you change the
following line in httpd_1.3/conf/mime.types:
 
application/octet-stream       bin
 
to something more like:
 
application/octet-stream       bin wrq pub Z R
 
After this change, Netscape (and others) will give you a save dialog
automatically (no shift-click needed) and it will be in binary mode.
 
I forwarded this earlier to the jazz folks, if you have had trouble
getting binaries from there in the past, you might try again later
after they've had time to fix it (or else download from a Un*x box!).
 
[\] Jeff Kell, [log in to unmask]