Re: MIME types

[Keith Moore <[e-mail]>]

> This is a friendly reminder that several months back,
> the IAB asked the IESG to figure out a mechanism for
> giving IANA consensual advice on the registration of
> new MIME types. It was felt that a full standards track
> process for each new MIME type was over the top, but that
> it would be very bad for MIME type registrations to be
> decided behind closed doors.

Please see draft-ietf-822ext-mime-reg-03.txt, which describes 
a new, more flexible, MIME type registration procedure.  Basically,
it allows registrations for vendor-defined subtypes of the form 
vnd.* or subtypes defined by an individual of the form prs.* to 
be submitted directly to IANA.
 
> I notice a MIME type draft being put on the standards track
> right now, which suggests that the problem is still real.

The procedure that's being defined doesn't prevent putting
a MIME type on the standards track, though it doesn't require
doing so either.  "Top-level" MIME types (such as model/*)
must still be standardized, while new subtypes can simply be
registered.

Keith