Re: TIFF-FX: technical changes since RFC 2301

> Larry,

> Monday, December 16, 2002, 12:08:25 PM, you wrote:
> Larry> So the only question really is whether the
> Larry> wording results in interoperable implementations,
> Larry> where writers that MAY use image/tiff-fx with
> Larry> profile S and F interoperate with readers that
> Larry> (as allowed) only know about image/tiff.

> The concern you are expressing is not specific to this case.  It covers all
> cases of sending a MIME type (or a "profile" within a type) that the
> receiver does not support.

I don't believe this is actually the issue.

What we have here is two MIME types: image/tiff and image/tiff-fx. The  former
is defined for use with two profiles of TIFF, S and F. The latter is defined
for use with a bunch of additional profiles, but currently may be used with
profiles S and F as well.

MIME has always encouraged the use of the best labelling possible. For example,
the application/octet-stream label is completely generic and can be used for
any content, but MIME discourages its use in favor of the more specific 
labels. Or, to use our customary terminology, application/octet-stream SHOULD
NOT be used if a more specific type is known to apply.

I therefore think it is entirely appropriate to say that image/tiff-fx SHOULD
NOT be used to describe material that is known to conform to the more
specific image/tiff type.

				Ned