Problem downloading files from Dropbox

Users and developers helping users with generic and technical Pale Moon issues on all operating systems.

Moderator: trava90

Forum rules
This board is for technical/general usage questions and troubleshooting for the Pale Moon browser only.
Technical issues and questions not related to the Pale Moon browser should be posted in other boards!
Please keep off-topic and general discussion out of this board, thank you!
arromdee

Problem downloading files from Dropbox

Unread post by arromdee » 2016-07-03, 17:09

Version: 26.2.1 (x64)

I went to a dropbox page. In this case it was https://www.dropbox.com/sh/4cazk2cykbpt ... HxBda?dl=0 . I tried downloading a file without logging in. The result is that
-- I am prompted where to download the file
-- Once I select something Pale Moon doesn't list the file in Downloads
-- A temporary file is created in /tmp ending in .part and the file is downloaded
-- Once the file has finished downloading, it stays in the temporary file, which is not deleted or copied to a proper file with a proper name

The same URL in Firefox works.
Last edited by Moonchild on 2016-07-04, 00:00, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: Actually use a descriptive topic title

x-15a2

Re: Dropbox

Unread post by x-15a2 » 2016-07-03, 17:47

I just tested using my default user profile, no login to dropbox, Pale Moon Version: 26.3.2 (x86) on Windows 10, file downloaded without error. As alway (and always and always... ad nauseam) you should provide your operating environment, version of PM and try with a clean user profile or in Safe Mode.

arromdee

Re: Dropbox

Unread post by arromdee » 2016-07-03, 21:12

I am using the version I described, on Linux.

Toa-Nuva
Fanatic
Fanatic
Posts: 199
Joined: 2015-06-04, 18:12

Re: Dropbox

Unread post by Toa-Nuva » 2016-07-03, 23:13

I can confirm a similar issue in a clean, new profile. Running PM 26.3.3 x64 on Linux Mint 17.1 Cinnamon.

However, I'm not even prompted where to download the file. I'm only asked whether I want to open or save the file. When I pick save, nothing happens – the "save as" dialog just doesn't show up. Otherwise, my experience is just like that described by the OP: PM downloads the file to /tmp/ in the background, and there's no visible indicator of an active download anywhere. When I close the browser, the file is simply deleted.

User avatar
trava90
Contributing developer
Contributing developer
Posts: 1736
Joined: 2013-05-20, 18:19
Location: Somewhere in Sector 001

Re: Problem downloading files from Dropbox

Unread post by trava90 » 2016-07-04, 02:39

I can confirm as well with the link provided. As a workaround, I was able to use DownThemAll to download the file and it downloaded as expected.

lightning slinger

Re: Problem downloading files from Dropbox

Unread post by lightning slinger » 2016-07-04, 07:11

I am not seeing any problem downloading from the link provided!

Following the procedure outlined by the OP, other than my PM is set to download to my /Downloads folder without asking where to download.
Save or Open with box appears as normal and selecting Save, downloads the requested file as normal with nothing unusual.
Running PM 26.3.3 (with my normal profile, identical on all my boxes), on both Xubuntu 14.04 64bit and MX-15 Fusion 64bit, the download ends up in the Downloads folder on both my machines!

Just a thought!!
I don't use the classic downloads window, is this making a difference?
Last edited by lightning slinger on 2016-07-04, 11:20, edited 1 time in total.

coffeebreak
Moon Magic practitioner
Moon Magic practitioner
Posts: 2986
Joined: 2015-09-26, 04:51
Location: U.S.

Re: Problem downloading files from Dropbox

Unread post by coffeebreak » 2016-07-04, 11:04

I can confirm this also with W7 x86, PM 26.3.3.

All was the same as for OP in every detail, except like Toa-Nuva I got the Open/Save dialog but was not not asked where to save. The downloads window didn't open, and when opened manually was empty. (My settings are: Always ask where to save, and Always open the downloads window.)

This happened with both everyday and clean, new profiles. DownThemAll as a workaround did work for me as well through its integration in the Open/Save dialog. Firefox 45.2esr was able to download the file normally. Also checked a couple of unrelated Dropbox downloads with the same result.
Last edited by coffeebreak on 2016-07-04, 23:02, edited 1 time in total.

Lucio Chiappetti
Astronaut
Astronaut
Posts: 654
Joined: 2014-09-01, 15:11
Location: Milan Italy

Re: Problem downloading files from Dropbox

Unread post by Lucio Chiappetti » 2016-07-04, 11:47

I can confirm that dropbox works funnily with my Linux palemoon. I had difficulties a while ago downloading stuff from there. I received a link and went to the page, I clicked on "direct download" but the file (a tar.gz) went to nowhere. I kept some not very clear notes about a workaround I find (it is difficult to note down actions in a GUI ... while with a command line interface one can always know what one does and repeat what one did :mrgreen: I guess it is dropobox's fault, not PM's).

I believe I had to copy the file to my own dropbox account (which I never use but I have because once I had to access a shared document), at some point I managed to have in the navigation toolbar an URL pointing to my copy of the file (or was it elsewhere ?). I edited the URL changing dl=0 in dl=1, at this point using it I get the usual popup prompt and can Save As to a location of my choice
The reasonable man adapts himself to the world: the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man. (G.B. Shaw)

lightning slinger

Re: Problem downloading files from Dropbox

Unread post by lightning slinger » 2016-07-04, 12:27

lightning slinger wrote:I am not seeing any problem downloading from the link provided!

Following the procedure outlined by the OP, other than my PM is set to download to my /Downloads folder without asking where to download.
Save or Open with box appears as normal and selecting Save, downloads the requested file as normal with nothing unusual.
Running PM 26.3.3 (with my normal profile, identical on all my boxes), on both Xubuntu 14.04 64bit and MX-15 Fusion 64bit, the download ends up in the Downloads folder on both my machines!
Edit: Just double-checked with the classic downloads window enabled ( I don't normally use it) and MX-15 downloads into /Downloads folder without problem!

Edit: Just checked on my Xubuntu 16.04 64 bit box and that works without problem also!
Last edited by lightning slinger on 2016-07-06, 16:48, edited 1 time in total.

User avatar
Moonchild
Pale Moon guru
Pale Moon guru
Posts: 35474
Joined: 2011-08-28, 17:27
Location: Motala, SE
Contact:

Re: Problem downloading files from Dropbox

Unread post by Moonchild » 2016-07-04, 12:42

This is a problem with Dropbox. Their header response has "Content-Disposition: attachment; filename=name" which implies that this download should be handled by user-controlled means. Since their MIME type is not an octet-stream type, direct handling with an application is implied (and not downloading unless it's MIME type application/octet-stream). So the behavior depends on if you have a handler for the type installed in your browser or not whether the dialog pops up or not. Pale Moon is doing as instructed: handle it with a user application only, do not download.

Note that Content-disposition is NOT part of the HTTP standard and shouldn't be used this way. just sending an attachment type header only means that it's not part of the displayed document and should be handled with a user action (in this case application/zip means it should be opened with an application that can directly handle zip archives -- if you choose this, Pale Moon will correctly download the file and then send it to the application used as a handler)
https://www.w3.org/Protocols/rfc2616/rfc2616-sec19.html
Especially 19.5.1

If Dropbox wants to force handling it as a download, they should use a MIME type application/octet-stream as outlined in the RFC.
Feel free to report it to Dropbox.
"Sometimes, the best way to get what you want is to be a good person." -- Louis Rossmann
"Seek wisdom, not knowledge. Knowledge is of the past; wisdom is of the future." -- Native American proverb
"Linux makes everything difficult." -- Lyceus Anubite

User avatar
Sob__
Lunatic
Lunatic
Posts: 251
Joined: 2014-02-17, 01:12
Location: CZ

Re: Problem downloading files from Dropbox

Unread post by Sob__ » 2016-07-04, 13:06

What about RFC 6266?
If the disposition type matches "attachment" (case-insensitively), this indicates that the recipient should prompt the user to save the response locally, rather than process it normally (as per its media type).
According to RFC 2616, the disposition type "attachment" only applies to content of type "application/octet-stream". This restriction has been removed, because recipients in practice do not check the content type, and it also discourages properly declaring the media type.

User avatar
Moonchild
Pale Moon guru
Pale Moon guru
Posts: 35474
Joined: 2011-08-28, 17:27
Location: Motala, SE
Contact:

Re: Problem downloading files from Dropbox

Unread post by Moonchild » 2016-07-04, 13:18

Hah.

Well, I guess because clients have done it incorrectly long enough, the new RFC makes it the new standard.

So, let me state it like this then: Pale Moon is currently RFC2616 compliant, while Dropbox assumes RFC6266 compliance for all visitors. :P
"Sometimes, the best way to get what you want is to be a good person." -- Louis Rossmann
"Seek wisdom, not knowledge. Knowledge is of the past; wisdom is of the future." -- Native American proverb
"Linux makes everything difficult." -- Lyceus Anubite

Lucio Chiappetti
Astronaut
Astronaut
Posts: 654
Joined: 2014-09-01, 15:11
Location: Milan Italy

Re: Problem downloading files from Dropbox

Unread post by Lucio Chiappetti » 2016-07-04, 13:20

Reported to them (although their interface seems to deter people from reporting a generic problem, they wanted a "valid deletion event link"). Anyhow I just tested on the link by the OP that changing dl=0 to dl=1 in the URL is enough to get prompted to Save As
The reasonable man adapts himself to the world: the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man. (G.B. Shaw)

Lucio Chiappetti
Astronaut
Astronaut
Posts: 654
Joined: 2014-09-01, 15:11
Location: Milan Italy

Re: Problem downloading files from Dropbox

Unread post by Lucio Chiappetti » 2016-07-06, 08:39

I received this not very friendly, or at least lazy reply from Dropbox
Harry (Dropbox Support) wrote:Thank you for contacting Dropbox Support about the difficulties you're experiencing. Palemoon is not created, distributed, or supported by Dropbox. It is a third party browser that, in general, isn't one we suggest or support.

I apologize for the inconvenience, but it looks like this problem is unrelated to Dropbox. In this case we are unable to provide support, and I’d recommend contacting the customer support organization of the product in question for a solution.

As noted in the first post of the forum thread you indicated, the links work normally in firefox, and would is designed work in other normal browsers such as Safari, Chrome, and even Internet Explorer.
It would cost them almost nothing to introduce a user profile option (I searched for it) which toggles dl=0 and dl=1, since that apparently does the trick.
The reasonable man adapts himself to the world: the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man. (G.B. Shaw)

User avatar
Moonchild
Pale Moon guru
Pale Moon guru
Posts: 35474
Joined: 2011-08-28, 17:27
Location: Motala, SE
Contact:

Re: Problem downloading files from Dropbox

Unread post by Moonchild » 2016-07-06, 10:41

Predictable response, even down to implying we're not a "normal browser".

I'm sorry but there's no quick solution for this on the browser side. This would need research, implementation of the behavior in the later RFC (describing practical use among browsers rather than logical behavior) that is still not part of the HTTP standard. Please also see the intro sentence of RFC 6266 and in the quotes difference from RFC 2616 that it is "Compared to Section 19.5.1 of [RFC2616], the following normative changes reflecting actual implementations have been made:" -- so it describes implementations as-found in the clients they looked at.
"Content-disposition" doesn't actually belong in HTTP headers since it's an e-mail header. Our behavior is actually the most logical for the headers sent to us, so it becomes a matter of alignment rather than following standards.

If anyone wants to help with research, to find out where/when this was changed in Firefox/Mozilla code, I'll be more than happy to push it into an implementation. Unfortunately it seems there are no clear bugs for this when searching.
"Sometimes, the best way to get what you want is to be a good person." -- Louis Rossmann
"Seek wisdom, not knowledge. Knowledge is of the past; wisdom is of the future." -- Native American proverb
"Linux makes everything difficult." -- Lyceus Anubite

Lucio Chiappetti
Astronaut
Astronaut
Posts: 654
Joined: 2014-09-01, 15:11
Location: Milan Italy

Re: Problem downloading files from Dropbox

Unread post by Lucio Chiappetti » 2016-07-06, 13:05

Unfortunately I am not deep enough in reading such code, nor in writing extensions (I guess it would be rather easy for an adhoc extension to fudge their URLs from dl=0 to dl=1). To me it looks clear that toggling dl=0|1 in Dropbox URLs does the trick to force the wished behaviour (and articles in this sense can also be found googling ... it is even in their help https://www.dropbox.com/en/help/201) ... the obvious solution would be for them to make it an user profile option ! So far this is an acceptable workaround
The reasonable man adapts himself to the world: the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man. (G.B. Shaw)

coffeebreak
Moon Magic practitioner
Moon Magic practitioner
Posts: 2986
Joined: 2015-09-26, 04:51
Location: U.S.

Re: Problem downloading files from Dropbox

Unread post by coffeebreak » 2016-07-06, 13:41

Lucio Chiappetti, thanks for the dl=0|1 workaround.

Folks, the download did work for two people who posted in this thread with entirely different operating systems, apparently without doing anything different/special -- just clicking the download link. What would account for this? Maybe if that could be known it would help with a fix.

Locked