[fitsbits] FITS MIME RFC ready for review

[Steve Allen]

On Mon 2003-06-02T14:14:29 -0400, Tom McGlynn hath writ:
> The requirement for use of the image/fits type prohibits using
> it for null images.  This seems to me to be too restrictive.

In a private e-mail exchange that happened before this posting was
approved for sci.astro.fits it has become clear that the issue could
be resolved by a one word change to the Internet Draft.

Section 5.2 is the IANA application for media type "image/fits".
The "Additional Information" starts with this sentence:

    A FITS file described with the media type "image/fits" MUST have a
    primary header and data unit (PHDU) which consists of at least one
    pixel.

The change would be from "MUST" to "SHOULD".

Tom McGlynn sent me details of why this would be relevant to data
services and virtual observatory applications.  I believe that this
change will better serve the emerging applications for the FITS MIME
types.  I will allow him reiterate the reasoning to this forum, and
then invite any further commentary.

--
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