Thread overview
mime - library for parsing shared MIME database
Aug 15, 2015
FreeSlave
Aug 16, 2015
Rikki Cattermole
Aug 16, 2015
FreeSlave
August 15, 2015
Currently I'm working on mime library for D. Dub page: http://code.dlang.org/packages/mime
It can parse MIME database files, including binary ones, like mime.cache. It also has algorithms for mime type detecting by file name.

It's not fully implemented yet and does not have stable API. Issues and goals are listed on the github page: https://github.com/MyLittleRobo/mime

If someone is interested in the project, I would be glad to discuss interface and implementation details of the library.

If you don't know what is shared MIME database and why does it matter read this:
http://standards.freedesktop.org/shared-mime-info-spec/shared-mime-info-spec-latest.html#idm140625831778224

August 16, 2015
On 16/08/2015 6:30 a.m., FreeSlave wrote:
> Currently I'm working on mime library for D. Dub page:
> http://code.dlang.org/packages/mime
> It can parse MIME database files, including binary ones, like
> mime.cache. It also has algorithms for mime type detecting by file name.
>
> It's not fully implemented yet and does not have stable API. Issues and
> goals are listed on the github page: https://github.com/MyLittleRobo/mime
>
> If someone is interested in the project, I would be glad to discuss
> interface and implementation details of the library.
>
> If you don't know what is shared MIME database and why does it matter
> read this:
> http://standards.freedesktop.org/shared-mime-info-spec/shared-mime-info-spec-latest.html#idm140625831778224

I had an mime implementation in Cmsed that basically was a hard coded file with a whole bunch of mime types along with file extensions.

I would be interested in seeing if this can match it 1:1 for features, while not allocating. Say give me the mime type for payload.

Possibly with its own override/addition csv files.

August 16, 2015
On Sunday, 16 August 2015 at 03:56:45 UTC, Rikki Cattermole wrote:
> On 16/08/2015 6:30 a.m., FreeSlave wrote:
>> Currently I'm working on mime library for D. Dub page:
>> http://code.dlang.org/packages/mime
>> It can parse MIME database files, including binary ones, like
>> mime.cache. It also has algorithms for mime type detecting by file name.
>>
>> It's not fully implemented yet and does not have stable API. Issues and
>> goals are listed on the github page: https://github.com/MyLittleRobo/mime
>>
>> If someone is interested in the project, I would be glad to discuss
>> interface and implementation details of the library.
>>
>> If you don't know what is shared MIME database and why does it matter
>> read this:
>> http://standards.freedesktop.org/shared-mime-info-spec/shared-mime-info-spec-latest.html#idm140625831778224
>
> I had an mime implementation in Cmsed that basically was a hard coded file with a whole bunch of mime types along with file extensions.
>
> I would be interested in seeing if this can match it 1:1 for features, while not allocating. Say give me the mime type for payload.
>
> Possibly with its own override/addition csv files.

This library focuses on shared MIME database used in freedesktop systems, usually for detecting file types in file managers to display appropriate icon and make correct choice of default application (well, that's another spec) to run on file. I don't think this suits the web world.

Your "hardcoded" approach is what usually used in web. If I remember correctly mime types are hardcoded in Chromium too.
But mime type is not only about extension. Generally pattern can be any glob pattern. That's why file managers can detect Makefile type as text/x-makefile, even though it does not have extension. Same for CMakeLists.txt - the preferred type is text/x-cmake, not just text/plain.

Patterns are not alone. There're magic rules for the rescue when mime type can't be detected from the name of file. That's how Linux file managers differ shell script from python script even if both don't have extension (but they have leading comment like #!/bin/sh or #!/usr/bin/python). Also that's how file managers detect file with unknown pk3 extension (used in Quake III based games) as zip file. Because it's really just zip file by its contents.

The whole shared MIME database thing is system and user dependent, so again it's not what you want to use for web, probably unless you manage the database yourself on the server. Even in this case patterns and magic rules are just hints. You can't rely on that to check if the uploading file is of the needed type. For example, if you want to validate image file, the only way to do it is to parse the whole file. Still you can use hints to cut off obviously invalid files.

I did not target non-allocating code yet, though I believe it's possible to make MimeCache to not allocate when detecting file type.