Thanks for the quick and helpful responses:
Original Question:
>I have a Solaris2.4 machine running httpd. I have set it up as
>an internal anonymous ftp server following the directions in
>man ftpd. (The purpose is to share files with Macs running netscape).
>
>When we access the ftp/pub directory with Netscape, it doesn't seem
>to recognize various extensions. For example, if you click on a file
>name foo.exe, the browser recognizes it as a binary file and downloads
>it. However if you click on a foo.xls (MS Excel file), the browser
>tries to display it. Once the gibberish is displayed, you can
>download a usable copy.
>
>How can we get to immediately begin the download without first
>trying to display these clearly non-text files?
>
>What mechanism is recognizing or not recognizing the file types?
>Is it the ftpd, the httpd, netscape configuration?
>
Here are ALL responses, the consensus seemed to be either
the .mime.types and/or the server conf files. There are a couple
of different solutions.
Niall O Broin - Gray Wizard <nobroin@esoc.esa.de>:
> What mechanism is recognizing or not recognizing the file types?
> Is it the ftpd, the httpd, netscape configuration?
It's the server's mime.types file. In there you'll find a line like
application/octet-stream exe bin
The octet-stream means that the browser should just download the data rather
than attempt to display it. The exe bin at the end are the extensions of
files which should be treated in this manner. I don't know what your server
has there at the moment - definitely at least exe because you said that
.files download when clicked. All you need to do is add xls to this list and
restart your server.
Alex Finkel <afinkel@pfn.com>:
Press and hold the <SHIFT> key before you click on a link to a file you wish
to download. Save-as will then be the default. Check your preferences.
Mark Belanger <mjb@westwood.ltx.com>:
I got it! (Or at least one solution)
I added this line to my .mime.types:
type=application/octet-stream xls bin
In General Preferences, specify the path to your .mime.types file.
Voila! Clicking on the file immediately pops up the save as
dialog box.
Raju Krishnamurthy <raju@pez.ecologic.net>:
You want to add the following line to <server-root>/conf/srm.conf
DefaultType application/octet-stream
And then restart the server. This will cause a file with an unknown
extension to be returned as an octet-stream causing the the browser
(in most cases) to pop open the "Save as" window. But we warned, you have
to make sure that you have mime types for all other things set
correctly, or this will cause you more frustration. (Ex: make sure
you have a mime type for ".txt" otherwise it will return is as an octet
stream, which is probably *not* what you want to happen)
-- Mark Belanger Email : mjb@ltx.com LTX Corporation Fax : (617) 329-6880 LTX Park at University Ave Voice : (617) 467-5021 Westwood Ma 02090 http://www.tiac.net/users/mjb
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