[fitsbits] FITS MIME RFC ready for review

[Tom McGlynn]

Hi Steve,

This is a very impressive document.  Thanks for putting it together.
I've only one substantive comment...

The requirement for use of the image/fits type prohibits using
it for null images.  This seems to me to be too restrictive.
I can imagine programs that return images where the image size
can range from 0 <= size of image <= some maximum where
there is a 'real' null image.  E.g., an image with
NAXIS1=512, NAXIS2=0 cannot be provided as an image.

The standard seems to require that a program that provides such
images would have to use application/fits.  Were I to create
such a program I suspect that I might use image/fits
in all cases despite it's being illegal.

	Tom


Steve Allen wrote:
> I have tidied up the draft text of the MIME proposal for FITS so that
> it conforms exactly to the format required by the Internet Engineering
> Standards Group.  It now has a table of contents for its 20 pages of
> ASCII text.  During the past few months the only content changes have
> been minor clarifications of wording in response to members of the
> FITSMIME mailing list.
> 
> The main web page is
> http://www.ucolick.org/~sla/fits/mime/
> The draft itself, comments on the draft, and an outline of the process
> for becoming an RFC are linked there.
> 
> I would now like to receive comments from FITSBITS/sci.astro.fits
> 
> I am also about to ask the AAS WGAS FITS Committee for approval to get
> an official title for the Internet Draft which would become the RFC.
> 
> I believe it is reasonable to set a goal of submitting the draft to
> the RFC editor in late June or early July.  By the end of June I
> expect that the process of reviewing and tweaking the text will be
> complete.  Then I will ask the WGAS FITS Committee to request approval
> from the IAUFWG for submitting the text to the RFC editor.
> 
> --
> Steve Allen          UCO/Lick Observatory       Santa Cruz, CA 95064
> sla at ucolick.org      Voice: +1 831 459 3046     http://www.ucolick.org/~sla
> PGP: 1024/E46978C5   F6 78 D1 10 62 94 8F 2E    49 89 0E FE 26 B4 14 93
>