[Bug 1243938] [NEW] 12.04 LTS (Precise) libmagic1 not returning ANY mime-type for some Microsoft Office files

[Michael Jarvis]

Public bug reported:

I am working on some software that will analyze arbitrary files, and
determine the mime type using libmagic1 (tied closely with the "file"
package).

I have a C program that links with libmagic1, and it calls magic_file()
correctly, but for certain files it's returning an empty string for the
mime type.  It appears to be Microsoft Office documents (such as Word
and Excel documents), and the mime type returned is  "; charset=binary"
instead of something like "application/vnd.ms-excel; charset=binary".
At the very least, I would expect it to return "application/octet-
stream" instead of just nothing.

This has been fixed in later versions of libmagic1, since I cannot
reproduce on 13.04 raring or 13.10 saucy.  I've also downloaded and
compiled file 5.10 and 5.15 from source (http://www.darwinsys.com/file/)
on 12.04 LTS and that worked fine as well, so I'm confident this is a
bug in the libmagic1 package.

Can we get a fix pushed for 12.04 LTS?

Thanks

lsb_release -rd returns "Ubuntu 12.04.3 LTS" on my test system.

** Affects: file (Ubuntu)
     Importance: Undecided
         Status: New

** Summary changed:

- 12.04 LTS (Precise) libmagic1 not returning ANY mime-type for some ms-excel files
+ 12.04 LTS (Precise) libmagic1 not returning ANY mime-type for some Microsoft Office files

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1243938

Title:
  12.04 LTS (Precise) libmagic1 not returning ANY mime-type for some
  Microsoft Office files

Status in “file” package in Ubuntu:
  New

Bug description:
  I am working on some software that will analyze arbitrary files, and
  determine the mime type using libmagic1 (tied closely with the "file"
  package).

  I have a C program that links with libmagic1, and it calls
  magic_file() correctly, but for certain files it's returning an empty
  string for the mime type.  It appears to be Microsoft Office documents
  (such as Word and Excel documents), and the mime type returned is  ";
  charset=binary" instead of something like "application/vnd.ms-excel;
  charset=binary".  At the very least, I would expect it to return
  "application/octet-stream" instead of just nothing.

  This has been fixed in later versions of libmagic1, since I cannot
  reproduce on 13.04 raring or 13.10 saucy.  I've also downloaded and
  compiled file 5.10 and 5.15 from source
  (http://www.darwinsys.com/file/) on 12.04 LTS and that worked fine as
  well, so I'm confident this is a bug in the libmagic1 package.

  Can we get a fix pushed for 12.04 LTS?

  Thanks

  lsb_release -rd returns "Ubuntu 12.04.3 LTS" on my test system.

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