Apache 2.4 set mime type of file without extension

Question

I have upgraded from Apache 2.2 to 2.4 on a RedHat 6.4 server and came across an issue with mime types.

Apache has a DefaultType Directive. In Apache 2.2 I set this to "text/plain". I have a webpage that lists all files in a given directory and the user can click to view the files. This directory contains all types of different file extensions and some files with no extensions. When a file was clicked, it would open up in a new window nicely formatted. There is not any code doing this. It is strictly the browser opening the file and deciding what to do based on its content type.

This directive has been disabled in Apache 2.4. The Apache documentation website instructs the user to to use the mime.types configuration file and the AddType Directive to configure media types.

My question is how do I assign the "text/plain" mime type to files with no extension? In Apache 2.2 those files would be given the "text/plain" content type by default through the DefaultType Directive. In Apache 2.4 I cannot figure out how to do this since I can't use this directive anymore. I do not want to use the ForceType Directive because it would override other already defined mime types.

I could create a php wrapper that loads the file and assign a content type but I'd prefer to keep the logic within apache where all other mime type definitions are located.

Any help would be appreciated. If additional information is needed please let me know.

Answer 1

Extensionless files only

This solution affects only extensionless, statically served files: (credit Eugene Kerner)

<FilesMatch "^[^.]+$">
    ForceType text/plain
    </FilesMatch>

Any unknown content

This one affects any response that would otherwise be transmitted without a Content-Type header. In other words, it mimics the behaviour of the old DefaultType directive:

Header set Content-Type "text/plain" "expr=-z %{CONTENT_TYPE}"

It should be possible to use setifempty here instead of the -z expression. But it fails and overwrites the header in every response, empty or not. I don’t know why. Eric Covener says it’s because the Content-Type header isn’t added “until the very last second”.