application handler strange behaviour

[Brian]

I've received two emails, each with a .wmv (Windows Media video
(video/x-ms-wmv)) attachment. One opens okay with the default
application handler, Movie Player on Ubuntu 8.10 but the other doesn't.
If I save the latter file it opens ok but I don't understand why it
won't open directly from within Thunderbird - v 3.0b2. Movie Player is
correctly listed in Preferences>Attachments>Download Actions.
Any ideas?

[Ron K.]

Brian on 3/24/2009 12:19 PM, keyboarded a reply:

Tb looks for a valid MIME Type in the attachment headers to cue handler
processing. That case of not working could be the result of the senders
program not providing the correct MIME during it's attachment processing.

--
Ron K.
Who is General Failure, and why is he searching my HDD?
Kernel Restore reported Major Error used BSOD to msg the enemy!

[Brian]

On 24/03/09 17:29, Ron K. wrote:
> Brian on 3/24/2009 12:19 PM, keyboarded a reply:
>> I've received two emails, each with a .wmv (Windows Media video
>> (video/x-ms-wmv)) attachment. One opens okay with the default
>> application handler, Movie Player on Ubuntu 8.10 but the other
>> doesn't. If I save the latter file it opens ok but I don't understand
>> why it won't open directly from within Thunderbird - v 3.0b2. Movie
>> Player is correctly listed in Preferences>Attachments>Download Actions.
>> Any ideas?
>
> Tb looks for a valid MIME Type in the attachment headers to cue handler
> processing. That case of not working could be the result of the senders
> program not providing the correct MIME during it's attachment processing.
>

Thanks. I've had a look at the attachment headers and both have,
'MIME-Version: 1.0'. I don't know if there is anything else I should be
looking for.
Brian

[Ken Whiton]

*-* On Tue, 24 Mar 2009, at 23:26:16 +0000,
*-* In Article p4-dnS7FlryF8VTU...@mozilla.org,
*-* Brian wrote
*-* About Re: application handler strange behaviour

That's in the message header. What you want to look at is the
"Content-Type:" header for the attachment itself. Here's an example
of the complete attachment header set for a "working" .wmv file:

Content-Type: video/x-ms-wmv; name="sawed-in-half.wmv"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: base64
Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="sawed-in-half.wmv"

I don't have an example of a "non-working" attachment.

Ken Whiton
--
FIDO: 1:132/152
InterNet: kenw...@surfglobal.net.INVAL (remove the obvious to reply)

[Brian]

Many thanks Ken, I've found it. It's missing the 'video/x-ms-wmv'
identifier. This what I get:

Content-Type: application/octet-stream;
name=HowaRealManTakesoffhisUnderwear.wmv
Content-Transfer-Encoding: base64
Content-Disposition: attachment;
filename=HowaRealManTakesoffhisUnderwear.wmv

I tried editing this, replacing 'application/octet-stream' with
'video/s-ms-wmv' but this didn't work. Is there corrective action I can
advise the original sender to take to avoid this incorrect MIME Type?

Brian

[Brian]

Sorry, small typo, should have read, 'video/x-ms-wmv;'

[Ken Whiton]

*-* On Wed, 25 Mar 2009, at 12:49:38 +0000,
*-* In Article EKKdnRJbRM__tVfU...@mozilla.org,

*-* Brian wrote
*-* About Re: application handler strange behaviour

> On 25/03/09 07:53, Ken Whiton wrote:
>> *-* Brian wrote

>>> On 24/03/09 17:29, Ron K. wrote:
>>>> Brian on 3/24/2009 12:19 PM, keyboarded a reply:
>>>>> I've received two emails, each with a .wmv (Windows Media video
>>>>> (video/x-ms-wmv)) attachment. One opens okay with the default
>>>>> application handler, Movie Player on Ubuntu 8.10 but the other
>>>>> doesn't. If I save the latter file it opens ok but I don't
>>>>> understand why it won't open directly from within Thunderbird -
>>>>> v 3.0b2. Movie Player is correctly listed in
>>>>> Preferences>Attachments>Download Actions. Any ideas?

>>>> Tb looks for a valid MIME Type in the attachment headers to cue
>>>> handler processing. That case of not working could be the result
>>>> of the senders program not providing the correct MIME during
>>>> it's attachment processing.

>>> Thanks. I've had a look at the attachment headers and both have,
>>> 'MIME-Version: 1.0'. I don't know if there is anything else I
>>> should be looking for.

>> That's in the message header. What you want to look at is the
>> "Content-Type:" header for the attachment itself. Here's an
>> example of the complete attachment header set for a "working" .wmv
>> file:

>> Content-Type: video/x-ms-wmv; name="sawed-in-half.wmv"
>> Content-Transfer-Encoding: base64
>> Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="sawed-in-half.wmv"

>> I don't have an example of a "non-working" attachment.

> Many thanks Ken, I've found it. It's missing the 'video/x-ms-wmv'

> identifier. This what I get:

> Content-Type: application/octet-stream;
> name=HowaRealManTakesoffhisUnderwear.wmv
> Content-Transfer-Encoding: base64
> Content-Disposition: attachment;
> filename=HowaRealManTakesoffhisUnderwear.wmv

:-D A friend sent me this about five or six weeks ago:

Content-Type: video/x-ms-wmv; name="HowaRealManTakesoffhisUnderwear1.wmv"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: base64
Content-Disposition: attachment;
filename="HowaRealManTakesoffhisUnderwear1.wmv"

> I tried editing this, replacing 'application/octet-stream' with
> 'video/s-ms-wmv' but this didn't work. Is there corrective action I
> can advise the original sender to take to avoid this incorrect MIME
> Type?

AFAIK, that's not something that's user-configurable or
-modifiable, so the only suggestion I can think of is to have him/her
change mail clients. ;-)

[Brian]

Thanks, Ken. Will discuss with him or just save the files and play!
Brian

[Ron K.]

Brian on 3/26/2009 8:44 AM, keyboarded a reply:

The application/octet-stream error suggest the sender is on Windows and the
root cause is how Windows registered the WMP. I have seen lots of bogus
MIME data being injected into attachment Content-type: headers when the
content is sent by Windows systems, it even screws up Tb and SM which think
that Windows registry data is reliable. It's not since MS shifted to using
Namespace semantics for application registration.