Question 1

How do I detect MIME types from file content using mimemagic in Go?

Accepted Answer

Use the Match() function with file data or MatchFilePath() for paths; the README example shows reading a file and calling MediaType() to get the result, but ensure error handling for robust integration.

Question 2

Is mimemagic faster than the Linux 'file' command?

Accepted Answer

Yes, the included CLI tool outperforms 'file' and 'kmimetypefinder' in benchmarks, with microsecond-level detection times, making it ideal for performance-critical applications like bulk file processing.

Question 3

What are the licensing issues with mimemagic?

Accepted Answer

The main branch is GPL-2.0-or-later due to code generated from shared-mime-info. An MIT branch exists but requires providing a freedesktop.org.xml file, complicating redistribution for permissive-licensed projects.

Question 4

Can I add custom MIME types to mimemagic?

Accepted Answer

Yes, but it involves using the included XML parser to regenerate definitions from a custom database file, which requires extra steps and may not be straightforward for casual users.

Question 5

Mimemagic vs Go's standard mime package: which is better?

Accepted Answer

Mimemagic is more accurate with magic number and multiple method detection, while Go's standard package is simpler and faster for basic extension matching but less reliable for content-based identification.

Question 6

How to install and use the mimemagic CLI?

Accepted Answer

Install via 'go get github.com/zRedShift/mimemagic/v2/cmd/mimemagic', then use flags like -c for content-based detection or -f for file names, as demonstrated in the usage examples with sample commands.

Question 7

Does mimemagic work on Windows for cross-platform MIME detection?

Accepted Answer

Yes, as a pure Go library with no OS dependencies, it runs consistently on Windows, Linux, and other platforms, ensuring reliable file type detection without native tool limitations.

mimemagic

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