[Bug 1008102] Re: 'file -i' reports wrong MIME type for perl scripts

[Launchpad Bug Tracker]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

** Changed in: file (Ubuntu)
       Status: New => Confirmed

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Title:
  'file -i' reports wrong MIME type for perl scripts

Status in “file” package in Ubuntu:
  Confirmed

Bug description:
  This is on a (relatively) vanilla installation of Ubuntu Server 12.04
  LTS 32-bit, with no modifications having been made to /etc/mime.types
  other than any changes that might have been performed by packages
  installed through synaptic. My installed version of the 'file' package
  is 5.09-2, which apt-get reports is the latest available one.

  $ uname -a
  Linux naisu 3.2.0-23-generic-pae #36-Ubuntu SMP Tue Apr 10 22:19:09 UTC 2012 i686 i686 i386 GNU/Linux
  $ cat /etc/lsb-release
  DISTRIB_ID=Ubuntu
  DISTRIB_RELEASE=12.04
  DISTRIB_CODENAME=precise
  DISTRIB_DESCRIPTION="Ubuntu 12.04 LTS"

  Observe the following behaviour:

  $ cat > mime.pl
  #!/usr/bin/perl
  use strict;
  print "mime";
  $ file -b mime.pl
  a /usr/bin/perl script, ASCII text executable
  $ file -b -i mime.pl

  Expected output:
  text/x-perl; charset=us-ascii

  Actual output:
  text/plain; charset=us-ascii

  Oddly, when the -i flag is omitted, the 'file' utility correctly
  identifies the file as a Perl script, but as soon as it's added it
  seems to revert back to text/plain. Setting the +x flag on the file
  makes no difference. I've checked /etc/mime.types (even though it
  hasn't been modified by me directly), and the perl line is present:

  $ cat /etc/mime.types | grep x-perl
  text/x-perl                                     pl pm

  The same commands on a Debian Lenny 5.0.9 system yields the expected output:
  $ file -b mime.pl
  a /usr/bin/perl script text executable
  $ file -b -i mime.pl
  text/x-perl

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