Re: Unicode encoding issue for LilyPond engraving files

Thank you, Max and Hans.

I don’t have any experience with MIME declarations or websites, but I can
offer my perspective as a frequent LilyPond user and end-user of CPDL, for
what it’s worth.

On Tue, 9 Jun 2026, Hans Åberg wrote:

> A net search suggests that text/x-lilypond is correct, and text/lilypond,
> without the “x-" experimental prefix, is acceptable; “text“ indicates it is
> human-readable, so “application” should not be used.
>

I really like how Nancho Álvarez has set content-type as text on his
website. As Hans noted, LilyPond files are human-readable, and it’s very
convenient for me to be able to navigate to (for example) Partituras de
Tomás Luis de Victoria <https://victoria.uma.es/partituras.html>, click on
any “ly” link, and instantly view Álvarez’s LilyPond code within my browser.

On Thu, 4 Jun 2026, Massimo Capozza wrote:

> I think that the approach that is consistent with the other file types is
> to add this statement to .htaccess:
>
> *AddType application/x-lilypond .ly*
>
> and then anybody can associate Frescobaldi (or any other application) to
> the .ly extension on the client.
>
> If you agree, I can implement it and you can give it a try then.
>

On Tue, 9 Jun 2026, Massimo Capozza wrote:

> As I mentioned in a previous email, we already have these MIME
> declarations in .htaccess:
>
>
>
>
> *    AddType application/x-nwc nwc    AddType application/x-sibelius-score
> sib sco    AddType application/octet-stream cap capx*
> Normally, these declarations should directly open the file in the
> application associated to the relevant file extension, which the user can
> freely select on his/her computer. So, in the case of Lilypond, one may
> select Frescobaldi, a text editor (e.g., Notepad++ that will immediately
> detect the UTF-8 encoding), or whatever else. If no application is
> associated, the file is downloaded "as is". This behaviour is in use since
> many years, and nobody complained about it, so I think that it would be
> fine for Lilypond, too, without introducing inconsistencies with other
> music file formats.
>
> These are the reasons why I proposed to use "application/x-lilypond".
> "text/x-lilypond" would also work, but just because the Lilypond files are
> text files, it would not work for the other music file types.
>

If I could click (left-click) .ly files on CPDL and have them open
immediately in Frescobaldi, that would also be convenient.

*To summarize, it seems that there are two options for CPDL:*


   1. Use text/x-lilypond for a UX like that of Álvarez’s website.
   2. Use application/x-lilypond for consistency within CPDL across
   music-engraving file formats (LilyPond, Sibelius, NWC, etc.).

Personally, I prefer option (1) because it is even more convenient for me
than (2); I like being able to view .ly files within my browser.

But either of these options would definitely be a significant improvement
upon CPDL’s current state for me as a LilyPond user!

Gabriel