[Hidden-tech] Serving/downloading Macintosh .dmg files

[Robert Heller]

At Fri, 07 Dec 2007 09:22:30 -0500 Rich <rich at on-the-net.com> wrote:

> 
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> 
> Yes and no - depending on the default type setting - it might or not be 
> downloaded as 'text' which might or might not work,
> so adding the AddType defiinition is a good idea
> 
> This issue will should up as the downloaded file not being valid as a 
> dmg install file.
> 
> HOWEVER that has nothing to with a 404 error - that means 'file note 
> found' -- and without a sample url, I can't really comment.
> I will note that since mac users often use long filenames and ones with 
> spaces and other special characters, and since you didn't say
> what your server is running (linux, windows or mac) - it is more likely 
> a file name difference between the file system name (that you ftp'd)
> vs the URL that apache recognizes

Right!  My mom had this sort of problem.  Also double dots (foo..html)
and *mixed* case (INDEX.HTML != index.html on a UNIX/Linux server).

Some (novice) rules of thumb for any sort of downloadable content
(including web pages, web images, and other stuff):

1) Use all lowercase file names (unless you know what you are doing).
2) Do NOT use spaces in file names (again unless you know what you are
doing).
3) Don't use special characters in file names.  Use only lowercase
letters (a-z), digits (0-9), dash (-), dot (.), and underscore (_). 
Yes, other characters can be used, but *some* other characters can
cause various problems.  Sticking to this 'limited' set of filename
characters avoids many problems.  There is *rarely* any real reason to
use any other characters in file names.  Dashes and underscores will
work nicely and cross-platformly as word separators.

> 
> Rich
> 
> Robert Hafner wrote:
> >
> > Will,
> >
> > You need to set the apache mime information correctly for .dmg files. 
> > Since it doesn't know what the file is or how it is processed, or if 
> > it thinks its the wrong type, it can screw up like this.
> >
> > Simplest way to do this is to create a file named ".htaccess" and put 
> > the following line in:
> > AddType application/x-apple-diskimage dmg
> >
> >
> > Robert
> >
> >
> > On Dec 6, 2007, at 5:55 PM, Will Loving wrote:
> >>
> >> I´m having a specific problem with Macintosh .dmg files that I´ve put 
> >> on my server not downloading properly. The file is clearly there but 
> >> when I attempt to download it via a URL, I get a 404 error. If I take 
> >> the same file and compress it as a .zip archive, it downloads just 
> >> fine. At some point earlier this year, I was having a possibly 
> >> related problem where the .dmg file would start to download but would 
> >> download as text.
> >>
> >> The only happens with files that I´ve uploaded to my server, not with 
> >> dmg files from other sources, so I´m guessing it has something to do 
> >> with how the files are being transferred. The Â"download as textÂ" 
> >> issue would make me think that the file got uploaded as text instead 
> >> of binary, but as far as I can tell it´s binary. I´ve tried uploading 
> >> from both Dreamweaver and a Vicomsoft FTP client with the same result.
> >>
> >> I thought I remembered reading something in the last year about issue 
> >> with uploading dmg files, but all my searches have been in vain... 
> >>  Anyone know the answer to this conundrum?
> >>
> >> Thanks,
> >>
> >> Will
> >>
> >> Will Loving, President
> >> Dedication Technologies, Inc.
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> -- 
> >>
> >> William M. Loving
> >> Dedication Technologies, Inc.
> >> 7 Coach Lane
> >> Amherst, MA 01002-3304   USA
> >> will at dedicationtechnologies.com <mailto:will at dedicationtechnologies.com>
> >> Tel: +1 413 253-7223   (GMT Â-5)  
> >> Fax: +1 206 202-0476
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