Default Charsets

2616 Section 3.7.1 states;

> When no explicit charset parameter is provided by the sender, media  
> subtypes of the "text" type are defined to have a default charset  
> value of "ISO-8859-1" when received via HTTP.

However, many, if not all, of the text/* media types define their own  
defaults; text/plain (RFC2046), for example, defaults to ASCII, as  
does text/xml (RFC3023).

How do these format-specific defaults interact with HTTP's default?  
Is HTTP really overriding them?

I'm far from the first to be confused by this text, and I'm sure it's  
been asked before, but I haven't been able to find a definitive  
answer. If errata are still being considered, perhaps removing/ 
modifying this line would be a good start...

Thanks,

--
Mark Nottingham
mnot@yahoo-inc.com

Received on Monday, 1 May 2006 19:20:39 UTC