No Auto-Open for .torrent Files: By Design?

[Jose_Alvarado]

The PM pop-up asks if I want to save, but does not ask if I want to "open", nor does it offer the option to "always open" (files of this type). Is there a setting to adjust, is this by design, some kind of bug, or what?

[Moonchild]

Not by design, but you have to have set up a file association in your Linux OS for .torrent files first, otherwise Pale Moon cannot know about it.
Also, if the server you are downloading the .torrent files from is using an incorrect MIME type, then that could be a cause -- MIME types take precedence over file extensions to determine what type it is (if the server explicitly says it's a certain type, then that is used instead of the browser itself determining this by extension).

[Jose_Alvarado]

Thanks for the response. Just last night, ultimate weirdness and that is that suddenly PM started flying "right" and gave me the option to "save" or "run", just like always. I think the torrent site is experimenting with a different (let's just call it a "plugin") method of delivering the torrent file once you click the link, so maybe that was the reason for the problem. I post here if it starts happening again and this time I'll pay more attention to everything else other than Pale Moon, since now I know it CAN work, so if it's not it's got to be something else's fault.

[Moonchild]

If the website supplies a MIME type with their torrent files, then that will take precedence over any file extension. That's is by design (file extensions to determine file type are a fallback method on the web). So it's possible they simply made a mistake there in the MIME type served, which forced the download.

[Jose_Alvarado]

The site is KAT, and for a while last week it was saying something like "torrent files hosted by xxxxxx" and now it doesn't, so your explanation sounds right. Today I noticed that the .torrent file autolaunched Vuze without a popup window, so the clickie button I hit yesterday saying something like "don't ask again" seems to be working.

FYI, this is not the same thing as clicking the "magnet" download button. The reason for this is that someone told me that the number of "trackers" available when using the "magnet" link is less than they number you get when you "download" the torrent file. The idea being that more trackers means more seeds and faster downloads. I have no idea if this is technically true or not. It sounds like it makes sense which makes me think it's probably not. One of those things that "feels true" so therefore it must be true. Despite that, I do the "download" method (vs. magnet link) anyways.

[Moonchild]

The reason for this is that someone told me that the number of "trackers" available when using the "magnet" link is less than they number you get when you "download" the torrent file. The idea being that more trackers means more seeds and faster downloads. I have no idea if this is technically true or not. It sounds like it makes sense which makes me think it's probably not. One of those things that "feels true" so therefore it must be true. Despite that, I do the "download" method (vs. magnet link) anyways.

A torrent file has all metadata and block data in it.
A magnet link is a hash link that will tell your client to look up the metadata and block data from the client, meaning it will grab this data from live seeds/peers (basically a bookmark to the information contained in the torrent file).

Both methods may or may not have trackers listed in the meta data. That's unrelated to it being a torrent file or a magnet link.

The end result is exactly the same, though - your client will end up with the same data to start the torrent; the only difference is that a torrent file will have the block data in the file. A torrent will therefore be a little faster to start because you don't have to look up the data on the trackers/DHT network first. The downside is that torrent files need to be hosted somewhere which is often considered not allowed if the torrents aren't legal.