RFC 2048 (rfc2048) - Page 2 of 21

Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) Part Four: Registration Procedures

RFC 2048              MIME Registration Procedures         November 1996


   This fourth document, RFC 2048, specifies various IANA registration
   procedures for the following MIME facilities:

    (1)   media types,

    (2)   external body access types,

    (3)   content-transfer-encodings.

   Registration of character sets for use in MIME is covered elsewhere
   and is no longer addressed by this document.

   These documents are revisions of RFCs 1521 and 1522, which themselves
   were revisions of RFCs 1341 and 1342.  An appendix in RFC 2049
   describes differences and changes from previous versions.

Table of Contents

   1. Introduction .........................................    3
   2. Media Type Registration ..............................    4
   2.1 Registration Trees and Subtype Names ................    4
   2.1.1 IETF Tree .........................................    4
   2.1.2 Vendor Tree .......................................    4
   2.1.3 Personal or Vanity Tree ...........................    5
   2.1.4 Special `x.' Tree .................................    5
   2.1.5 Additional Registration Trees .....................    6
   2.2 Registration Requirements ...........................    6
   2.2.1 Functionality Requirement .........................    6
   2.2.2 Naming Requirements ...............................    6
   2.2.3 Parameter Requirements ............................    7
   2.2.4 Canonicalization and Format Requirements ..........    7
   2.2.5 Interchange Recommendations .......................    8
   2.2.6 Security Requirements .............................    8
   2.2.7 Usage and Implementation Non-requirements .........    9
   2.2.8 Publication Requirements ..........................   10
   2.2.9 Additional Information ............................   10
   2.3 Registration Procedure ..............................   11
   2.3.1 Present the Media Type to the Community for  Review   11
   2.3.2 IESG Approval .....................................   12
   2.3.3 IANA Registration .................................   12
   2.4 Comments on Media Type Registrations ................   12
   2.5 Location of Registered Media Type List ..............   12
   2.6 IANA Procedures for Registering Media Types .........   12
   2.7 Change Control ......................................   13
   2.8 Registration Template ...............................   14
   3. External Body Access Types ...........................   14
   3.1 Registration Requirements ...........................   15
   3.1.1 Naming Requirements ...............................   15



Freed, et. al.           Best Current Practice