[ic] correct mime type for .exe with MSIE

Kevin Walsh interchange-users@interchange.redhat.com
Wed Apr 10 04:03:01 2002


> 
> I am trying to find out how to make MSIE download a .exe file with the
> extension intact.  Using the IC built in file delivery mechanism, it feeds
> the file directly to the browser, and for some reason MSIE prompts you to
> download the file without the extension.  This is using
> application/octet-stream as the mime type.  What it looks like is that
> MSIE can't determine what type of file it is, and therefore can't
> determine what extension to give it.  Since the content is fed directly to
> the browser it doesn't have a filename in the url to go by.  If you give
> it a mime type it knows an extension for it will name that file with that
> extension.  Problem is there is no specific mime type for .exe that I know
> of.  Netscape and Opera seem to work fine...
> 
You could try "application/x-msdos-program" or "application/x-msdownload".
The "application/octet-stream" is clearly the best one to use, but
Microsoft doesn't play well with others, as you have found.

Why not present your URL with a ".exe" marker in it.  You could
create a "pages/filename.exe.html" file and fill it with IC tags.
If you invoke the page as www.domain.com/cgi-bin/whatever/filename.exe
then Interchange will find the .html file and treat it like any
other file.  The browser wouldn't see the ".html" part.  You could
create one of those files for each of the MIME types you use.

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