[SLE] apache2 and pdf mime type

[Adam Naumowicz]

Hi,

I'm having problems with configuring apache2 under SuSE 9.0 to work correctly with some web browsers (including MSIE 6.0) when trying to retrieve .pdf files. Apparently, the mime-type definition application/pdf used by apache's module differs from the one used by the browser - in the apache's log file I can see that the server responds with code 206 (why partal download?) and the browser complains that the file doesn't start with a valid .pdf magic string, i.e. %PDF-.

Does anyone know how to solve the problem?

Any help appreciated,

Adam Naumowicz


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[p***@cmdline.net]

Post by Adam Naumowicz
I'm having problems with configuring apache2 under SuSE 9.0 to work correctly with some web browsers (including MSIE 6.0) when trying to retrieve .pdf files. Apparently, the mime-type definition application/pdf used by apache's module differs from the one used by the browser - in the apache's log file I can see that the server responds with code 206 (why partal download?) and the browser complains that the file doesn't start with a valid .pdf magic string, i.e. %PDF-.

Interesting.

My assumption is that MSIE tries opening the file with the acrobat
reader _plugin_ and that thing is buggy.

Is it using an outdated version of the acrobat pdf plugin? Try
downloading the file to disk.

Some bots also do such partial GET requests, probably to save bandwidth
by retrieving only the top of the html documents. There's nothing wrong
with it by itself.

Anyway, it shouldn't have anything to do with apache version (i.e.
apache2), or a different mime type.

Peter

[Keith Rowland]

I had this problem also. After days of trials, support calls and failed
web searches, I guessed at a solution. I've documented this in my blog:

http://www.keithrowland.com/archives/2003_12.html#000037

But essentially, change the mime type in /etc/mime.types for PDF from:

application/pdf

to

application/x-pdf

Post by Adam Naumowicz
I'm having problems with configuring apache2 under SuSE 9.0 to work correctly with some web browsers (including MSIE 6.0) when trying to retrieve .pdf files. Apparently, the mime-type definition application/pdf used by apache's module differs from the one used by the browser - in the apache's log file I can see that the server responds with code 206 (why partal download?) and the browser complains that the file doesn't start with a valid .pdf magic string, i.e. %PDF-.
Does anyone know how to solve the problem?

[p***@cmdline.net]

Post by Keith Rowland
I had this problem also. After days of trials, support calls and failed
http://www.keithrowland.com/archives/2003_12.html#000037
application/pdf
to
application/x-pdf

Interesting.

I also read that MSIE + Adobe Acrobat plugin don't grok compressed
files. Were you using mod_deflate?

Peter