304783 - Attaching PDF results in "Content-type: text/html" header attachment

Status: VERIFIED WORKSFORME

(Thunderbird :: Message Compose Window, defect)

Description

[drm]

User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.7.10) Gecko/20050716 Firefox/1.0.6
Build Identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.7.10) Gecko/20050716 Firefox/1.0.6

When attaching a PDF to a new message, sending of the message results in the PDF
body to be attached with a content-type: text/html header.

The source of the message displays:

----
--------------070602020801070103010408
Content-Type: text/html;
 name="992266.pdf"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: base64
Content-Disposition: inline;
 filename="992266.pdf"
----

This problem occurs when composing in text mode only, and when

Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:
1. Create new mail message
2. Attach a pdf file, either by dragging/dropping or via attach toolbarbutton
3. Send the message to yourself
4. View the source of the message, or see the attachment icon being an HTML icon.

Actual Results:  
- I see both an HTML icon next to attachment (which is probably a result of the
following)
- The content-type header of the attachment part of the message is set to be
"text/html"

The main problem here is that SPAM filters scan the text/html parts of the
messages, which virtually almost concludes the message to be spam. Conclusively,
i can't send any e-mail whatsoever containing PDF attachments!

So, i file this bug to be major, though normally it would classify "normal".
Feel free to change the status if you think otherwise.

Expected Results:  
application/pdf or application/octet-stream content-type header

Comment 1

[zug_treno]

Duplicate of Core bug 276409?

Comment 2

[drm]

I see i posted an incorrect comment
"This problem occurs when composing in text mode only, and when"

That's not the case, it also happens when composing in HTML mode. 

In reply to [e-mail]:

I don't use the Mozilla Application suite, and I didn't think Thunderbird and
Firefox are integrated at that level, are they? I do have a historical copy of
the Mozilla Application Suite installed, and changed the prefs as stated in that
bug, but it had no effect.

Comment 3

[Mike Cowperthwaite]

Assuming you're using Thunderbird 1.0.x (information that you *should* have 
provided in the original bug report):
  Tools | Options | Attachments
There's probably a PDF entry in the File Types table.  Select it and click 
Remove.  Exit program, restart.  Compose a new message, attach PDF file: same 
problem?

If you're using a nightly build, then:
  Tools | Options | Attachments | View & Edit Actions
There's probably a PDF entry in the File Types table.  Select it and click 
**Edit** (not Remove).  The assocated MIME type is displayed at the top of the 
dialog -- is it "text/html"?  If so, close the window, and *now* click Remove, 
exit and restart, etc.

If either of those courses of actions solves your problem, please mark this bug 
Resolved | WorksForMe.  See also bug 244618.

Comment 4

[drm]

(In reply to comment #3)
> Assuming you're using Thunderbird 1.0.x (information that you *should* have 
> provided in the original bug report):

I am using 1.0.6, sorry for that.

>   Tools | Options | Attachments
> There's probably a PDF entry in the File Types table.  Select it and click 
> Remove.  Exit program, restart.  Compose a new message, attach PDF file: same 
> problem?

The file types table is empty. That was one of the first things i checked myself.

I also checked the windows registry for html <-> pdf associations but couldn't
find anything there as well. Maybe i overlooked something. Does Thunderbird
check with the registry when attaching?

Comment 5

[Mike Cowperthwaite]

(In reply to comment #4)
> (In reply to comment #3)
> >   Tools | Options | Attachments
> > There's probably a PDF entry in the File Types table.  Select it and click 
> > Remove.  Exit program, restart.  Compose a new message, attach PDF file:
> > same problem?
> 
> The file types table is empty. That was one of the first things i checked
> myself.

Please locate the mimeTypes.rdf file in your profile directory and attach it to 
this bug (using the Create New Attachment link above).


> I also checked the windows registry for html <-> pdf associations but couldn't
> find anything there as well. Maybe i overlooked something. Does Thunderbird
> check with the registry when attaching?

I'm not sure whether it checks the registry when attaching; I've tried making 
various entries in the registry, but haven't gotten TB to recognize them while 
attaching.
TB will, in some circumstances, check the registry while opening an attachment.

Comment 6

[drm]

(In reply to comment #5)
> Please locate the mimeTypes.rdf file in your profile directory and attach it to 
> this bug (using the Create New Attachment link above).

Hmmm i think i found the problem:

<RDF:Description RDF:about="urn:mimetype:text/html"
                   NC:description="Adobe Acrobat Document"
                   NC:value="text/html"
                   NC:editable="true">
    <NC:fileExtensions>pdf</NC:fileExtensions>
    <NC:fileExtensions>htm</NC:fileExtensions>
    <NC:handlerProp RDF:resource="urn:mimetype:handler:text/html"/>
  </RDF:Description>

I really have no idea whatsoever how it ended up there. 

As i remove the line with file extension PDF:
    <NC:fileExtensions>htm</NC:fileExtensions>

the result is as expected: problem solved.....

this is ...... "peculiar" .... to say the least.

> I'm not sure whether it checks the registry when attaching; I've tried making 
> various entries in the registry, but haven't gotten TB to recognize them while 
> attaching.

I didn't think so as well.

> TB will, in some circumstances, check the registry while opening an attachment.

I thought i recognized that in the registry indeed... otoh that doesn't give any
problems...

Well, i marked the bug "works for me", but maybe this is a lead to find out how
that link between .pdf extensions and text/html content-type got into the
mimeTypes.rdf file in the first place ....

Thanks for your help, all :)

Comment 7

[Mike Cowperthwaite]

(In reply to comment #6)
> (In reply to comment #5)
> > Please locate the mimeTypes.rdf file in your profile directory and attach
> > it to this bug (using the Create New Attachment link above).
> 
> Hmmm i think i found the problem:
> 
> <RDF:Description RDF:about="urn:mimetype:text/html"
>                    NC:description="Adobe Acrobat Document"
>                    NC:value="text/html"
>                    NC:editable="true">
>     <NC:fileExtensions>pdf</NC:fileExtensions>
>     <NC:fileExtensions>htm</NC:fileExtensions>
>     <NC:handlerProp RDF:resource="urn:mimetype:handler:text/html"/>
>   </RDF:Description>
> 
> I really have no idea whatsoever how it ended up there. 
> 
> As i remove the line with file extension PDF:
>     <NC:fileExtensions>htm</NC:fileExtensions>
> 
> the result is as expected: problem solved.....

You *only* removed the "pdf" file extension?  So the description field still 
reads "Adobe Acrobat Document"?

I'd remove the entire block, if it were my system; or at least edit it so it 
correctly reads "HTML file".

Comment 8

[drm]

(In reply to comment #7)
> You *only* removed the "pdf" file extension?  So the description field still 
> reads "Adobe Acrobat Document"?
> 
> I'd remove the entire block, if it were my system; or at least edit it so it 
> correctly reads "HTML file".

Obviously, you're right, but it didn't concern the problem. Just removing the
line pointed out the source of the problem. Thanks anyway :)