[sf-lug] need for .html suffix

[Alex Kleider]

I've just come across some puzzling behavior as follows.
index.html (parent page) contains an href to a file in the same directory.
Whether the referenced file is called index.khan or k1.html makes no difference if I test locally (i.e. point browser @ file:///home/alex/BookSite/index.html and then click on the link) but once uploaded to the server, if that file doesn't have the suffix '.html', the browser/server relationship breaks down and I get a notice that my link is to a bin file and I am given the option to save it but it won't display.
Should I have expected this?
I'm using lighttpd as the server running Debian/Lenny on a DreamPlug (arm processor) and firefox under Ubuntu 12.04 as browser on my laptop. I'm curious to know who (I assume it must be the server) decides the file type, and if it is the server, perhaps this is a configuration issue.  I'm using lighttpd simply because it comes by default on the DreamPlug. I've never run into anything like this before although I can't specifically remember if I've ever tried using an html file that wasn't named with the '.html' suffix.
alex

a_kleider at yahoo.com
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://linuxmafia.com/pipermail/sf-lug/attachments/20120611/0dec7dfc/attachment.html>