Subject: Re: [media-types] Mime type for patch files?

From: Petter Reinholdtsen <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 22 Nov 2019 08:46:32 +0100

I guess it is time to pick up this thread gain. :)

Did you hear back from IANA about your application for a patch file MIME
type?  Can you share with us what you wrote in the application?

Also, as Mitar asked a month ago, do anyone on this list have any idea
if it is possible to get approval by IESG for such MIME type without
writing a RFC draft first?

-- 
Happy hacking
Petter Reinholdtsen

---

From: Mitar <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 25 Nov 2019 12:41:38 -0800

Hi!

> I guess it is time to pick up this thread gain. :)

Yes, in fact I just got reply back. So it seems we do have to write an
RFC. They wrote:

====
To make this registration, the reviewers recommend writing an RFC. One
adds, "Of course there may be other standards bodies I know nothing
about that accept and publish documents; it would be fine if such a
process was used."

An independent-stream or an IETF-stream RFC would be acceptable. If
the template were to appear in an independent-stream I-D intended for
publication as an RFC, we would need to ask the IESG to approve the
template separately before publication. That would have to be arranged
with the Independent Stream Editor.

You can find information on this process here:
====

So, it seems somebody has to start working on a RFC here. Personally,
I do not have time for something like this, and probably if to be done
correctly, it should involve a broader community here, I suspect that
many tools are using those patches and might have added extra custom
stuff on top of it, so it might be useful to standardize that as well,
or at least not to make them out-of-spec. So this looks like it has to
be a bigger project than just registration.

This is the application I submitted (slightly bugfixed here):

====
Media type name: text
Media subtype name: unified-diff

Required parameters: N/A

Optional parameters: N/A

Encoding considerations: 8bit

Security considerations:
The security issues associated with this type have not been assessed.

Interoperability considerations: N/A

Published specification:
https://www.gnu.org/software/diffutils/manual/html_node/Detailed-Unified.html
https://www.artima.com/weblogs/viewpost.jsp?thread=164293

Applications which use this media:
It is primarily used to describe the output of GNU patch program and
compatible programs, including git.

Fragment identifier considerations:
N/A

Restrictions on usage:
N/A

Provisional registration? (standards tree only):
N/A

Additional information:

1. Deprecated alias names for this type: N/A
2. Magic number(s): N/A
3. File extension(s): patch
4. Macintosh file type code: N/A
5. Object Identifiers: N/A

General Comments:

Person to contact for further information:

1. Name: Mi Tar
2. Email: [email-masked]

Intended usage: Common
For output of the GNU patch program.

Author/Change controller: N/A
====

Mitar

-- 
http://mitar.tnode.com/
https://twitter.com/mitar_m

---

From: Mitar <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 25 Nov 2019 13:32:44 -0800

Hi!

Just an interesting thing, in 2008 people were complaining that PATCH
HTTP request "but the standards issue is still that there are no
registered diff formats."

https://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/ietf-http-wg/2008JanMar/0316.html

Mitar

---

From: "Edwards, Thomas" <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 25 Nov 2019 22:29:40 +0000

Standardization of diffs "smells" to me like it would fit under the IEEE Computer Society standards activity, as it applies to software engineering in general rather than Internet issues specifically under the IETF.

Someone may want to reach out to Riccardo Mariani, VP of the IEEE Computer Society Standards Activities Board to see if there is interest there.  See:

https://www.computer.org/volunteering/boards-and-committees/standards-activities

The other thought would be ISO/IEC JTC1 SC7 "Software & Systems Engineering" 

-Thomas

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---

From: Petter Reinholdtsen <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 25 Nov 2019 23:52:09 +0100

[Mitar]
> https://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/ietf-http-wg/2008JanMar/0316.html

I suspect that particular issue might have been solved with
<URL: https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc6902 > and
<URL: https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc7396 >.

Do you mean that the HTTP PATCH protocol request is a relevant use case
for the diff/patch format coming out of GNU diff and similar tools?

Anyway, perhaps it is better to register one of the commonly used MIME
types for the diff format instead of making a new one?

-- 
Happy hacking
Petter Reinholdtsen

---

From: Mitar <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 30 Nov 2019 20:18:53 -0800

Hi!

> for the diff/patch format coming out of GNU diff and similar tools?

Yes. It is ridiculous that you cannot send a GNU diff patch over HTTP
patch using a standard MIME type.

> types for the diff format instead of making a new one?

If that is possible, sure.

Mitar