Should I just save it here, or what?
August 20, 2006 4:22 AM Subscribe
A silly and trivial - but specific - question about how browsers work.
Sometimes, I will be using a browser, and I will come to a page from which I intend to download some files - think Sourceforge or similar. This page will throw me to another page, which will offer a selection of mirrors, something like this, and I will pick a mirror. The next page will start the download, and also offer me a direct link, should the auto-download have failed.
If my aim is just to find this link, and I cancel the download as soon as the window appears, have I downloaded any of the file? ie does the server actually wait for my response to the "open with x or save to disk" dialog?
Basically, should I just save it on the same box which I've found the link with, and then move it to the right machine locally....
Sometimes, I will be using a browser, and I will come to a page from which I intend to download some files - think Sourceforge or similar. This page will throw me to another page, which will offer a selection of mirrors, something like this, and I will pick a mirror. The next page will start the download, and also offer me a direct link, should the auto-download have failed.
If my aim is just to find this link, and I cancel the download as soon as the window appears, have I downloaded any of the file? ie does the server actually wait for my response to the "open with x or save to disk" dialog?
Basically, should I just save it on the same box which I've found the link with, and then move it to the right machine locally....
In Firefox, it begins to download the file the moment the "open with x or save to disk" dialog shows. If you click cancel, it deletes what it has downloaded.
If you're trying to be efficient, then it's probably best to let small files download, and then move it locally. If it's a large file, start the download on the target machine because then you won't have to wait for it to transfer between the 2 machines.
posted by spark at 4:50 AM on August 20, 2006
If you're trying to be efficient, then it's probably best to let small files download, and then move it locally. If it's a large file, start the download on the target machine because then you won't have to wait for it to transfer between the 2 machines.
posted by spark at 4:50 AM on August 20, 2006
Most browsers do start downloading before you've told it whether to open or save, given it a filename, etc.
Basically, should I just save it on the same box which I've found the link with, and then move it to the right machine locally....
You mean for the sake of speed? I would imagine that any speed gain from this would be negligible, unless you're taking a really long time to click Cancel.
posted by reklaw at 5:33 AM on August 20, 2006
Basically, should I just save it on the same box which I've found the link with, and then move it to the right machine locally....
You mean for the sake of speed? I would imagine that any speed gain from this would be negligible, unless you're taking a really long time to click Cancel.
posted by reklaw at 5:33 AM on August 20, 2006
Best answer: The browser has to have started downloading, because without having gotten the MIME type from the http response header your browser wouldn't even know whether to pop up the "save file" dialog box or just render the file as HTML like it does for other links.
Well, it could do a separate HEAD request to check for the headers, but as you'd have to do that for all links, it'd be wildly inefficient.
posted by fvw at 6:08 AM on August 20, 2006
Well, it could do a separate HEAD request to check for the headers, but as you'd have to do that for all links, it'd be wildly inefficient.
posted by fvw at 6:08 AM on August 20, 2006
There are extensions(or Greasemonkey scripts) for Firefox that make dealing with Sourceforge and the like much easier.
posted by Mr. Gunn at 12:14 PM on August 20, 2006
posted by Mr. Gunn at 12:14 PM on August 20, 2006
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posted by ed\26h at 4:42 AM on August 20, 2006