Please can you explain why I can't upload textual documents?

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  julesmay · Member · May 11, 2012 at 4:18 pm

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  Hi, I’m writing a blog about programming. I’d really like to be able to place code samples into the blog, so readers can download them. But the gallery uploader won’t let me. Actually, I can upload it as a doc or docx, but not as .h or .txt, or even a .zip. Note that, I know I can paste code into a post, (and I’ve done that with some snippets) but complete files seem too long to do that with.

  I’ve got a possible solution: I can use my domain (which I’ve not yet connected) to host the files, and link from my WordPress post to an external server. But that seems like a hard way to solve a simple problem, and I don’t understand why the restriction. Surely files like .txt or .cpp can’t pose a security risk?

  Can you advise, please?
  Blog url: http://deprogramandis.wordpress.com/

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  staff-blorbo · Staff · May 11, 2012 at 6:16 pm

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  We can only allow certain types of files for security reasons.

  Have you tried just embedding the source code?

  http://en.support.wordpress.com/code/posting-source-code/

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  julesmay · Member · May 11, 2012 at 6:26 pm

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  Can you explain the security implications of text files, please? I understand that executable files would be a security risk, but I don’t get how source code would be a problem. (I’d really like to know! I’m concerned I’m missing something important!)

  > Have you tried just embedding the source code?
  I was hoping to avoid posting 130 lines of header to a blog post :-) I guess I’ll have to for the time being.

  Thx anyway.

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  staff-blorbo · Staff · May 11, 2012 at 6:45 pm

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  All excluded files can be exploited, in some way, even something as innocent as MIDI or TXT files. I wish I could explain further, but I’m personally not even sure how the exploits are done.