![[APACHE DOCUMENTATION]](../images/sub.gif)
mod_mime.c file, and is
compiled in by default. It provides for determining the types of files
from the filename.
The directives AddEncoding, AddHandler, AddLanguage and AddType are all used to map file extensions onto the meta-information for that file. Respectively they set the content-encoding, handler, content-language and mime-type (content-type) of documents. The directive TypesConfig is used to specify a file which also maps extensions onto mime types. The directives ForceType and SetHandler are used to associated all the files in a given location (e.g. a particular directory) onto a particular mime type or handler.
Files can have more than one extension, and the order of the
extensions is normally irrelevant. For example, if the file
welcome.html.fr maps onto content type text/html and
language French then the file welcome.fr.html will map
onto exactly the same information. The only exception to this is if an
extension is given which Apache does not know how to handle. In this
case it will "forget" about any information it obtained from
extensions to the left of the unknown extension. So, for example, if
the extensions fr and html are mapped to the appropriate language and
type but extension xxx is not assigned to anything, then the file
welcome.fr.xxx.html will be associated with content-type
text/html but no language.
Note that changing the type or encoding of a file does not change the
value of the Last-Modified header. Thus, previously cached
copies may still be used by a client or proxy, with the previous headers.
Please note that changing a file's type or encoding does not change
the value of the Last-Modified header. Previously cached
copies may still be used by a client or proxy.
The AddEncoding directive adds to the list of filename extensions which filenames may end in for the specified encoding type. Mime-enc is the mime encoding to use for documents ending in extension. Example:
AddEncoding x-gzip gz
AddEncoding x-compress Z
Old clients expect x-gzip and x-compress,
however the standard dictates that they're equivalent to gzip
and compress respectively. Apache does content encoding
comparisons by ignoring any leading x-. When responding
with an encoding Apache will use whatever form (i.e. x-foo
or foo) the client requested. If the client didn't
specifically request a particular form Apache will use the form given by
the AddEncoding directive. To make this long story short,
you should always use x-gzip and x-compress
for these two specific encodings. More recent encodings, such as
deflate should be specified without the x-.
AddHandler maps the filename extensions extension to the
handler
handler-name. For example, to activate CGI scripts
with the file extension ".cgi", you might use:
AddHandler cgi-script cgi
Once that has been put into your srm.conf or httpd.conf file, any
file ending with ".cgi" will be treated as a CGI
program.
The AddLanguage directive adds to the list of filename extensions which filenames may end in for the specified content language. Mime-lang is the mime language of files with names ending extension, after any content encoding extensions have been removed. Example:
AddEncoding x-compress Z
AddLanguage en .en
AddLanguage fr .fr
xxxx.en.Z will be treated as being a compressed
English document. Although the content language is reported to the client,
the browser is unlikely to use this information. The AddLanguage directive
is more useful for content negotiation, where the server returns one
from several documents based on the client's language preference.The AddType directive adds to the list of filename extensions which filenames may end in for the specified content type. Mime-enc is the mime type to use for documents ending in extension. after content-encoding and language extensions have been removed. Example:
AddType image/gif GIF