409154 - Files will not download if the downloads folder is set to a folder that has been moved and replaced by an alias to the new location.

Status: NEW

(Toolkit :: Downloads API, defect)

Description

[Joshua Dimmack]

User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; U; PPC Mac OS X 10.4; en-US; rv:1.9b2) Gecko/2007121014 Firefox/3.0b2
Build Identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; U; PPC Mac OS X 10.4; en-US; rv:1.9b2) Gecko/2007121014 Firefox/3.0b2

I had a folder on my desktop called downloads for my downloads. I moved it to my home folder. and put an alias to the new location on my desktop. Firefox attempts to download to the old location which was still set. The downloads window does not pop up. No error message comes up. It simply fails. and empty files with garbled text appear in the downloads folder the alias links to. I think what is happening is that firefox sees that the folder is not there then tries to create the folder but is unable to do that since the alias already has the same name, and being unable to save to the alias or create a new folder it simply does nothing.

Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:
1.Create a folder on the desktop named downloads.
2.Set downloads folder on desktop as the destination for firefox downloads in the preferences panel.
3.Move the downloads folder to a new location.
4.Create an alias of the new location for the downloads folder on the desktop.
5. Attempt to download the current version of firefox from the firefox webpage (or any other file for that matter).
Actual Results:  
1.Nothing visibly happens.
2.A file with a corrupt name appears the downloads folder's new location.

Expected Results:  
1. An error message appears.
2. An option to save to a new location appears.
3. Followed the alias and saved the file seamlessly to the correct folder.

Comment 1

[Marcia Knous [:marcia]]

I don't see this using the latest trunk nightly on 10.5,  Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; U; Intel Mac OS X 10.5; en-US; rv:1.9b3pre) Gecko/2007122004 Minefield/3.0b3pre. If I follow the STR and download a file, it places it in the Downloads alias folder that I have put on the desktop.

Comment 2

[Joshua Dimmack]

I left a step out. I had also renamed "Downloads Alias" to "Downloads". See if that makes a difference.

Comment 3

[Joshua Dimmack]

Ok I just tried on my mac mini with 2.0.0.11 and I got an error message with 2.0.0.11 I'll attach it.

If I leave the name as "Downloads Alias" It does work as Marcia says, but when I renamed the alias back to just "Downloads" Firefox couldn't cope with it.

Comment 4

[Joshua Dimmack]

Attachment: Screenshot of the error message I got in Current Release. (Doesn't show in Current Beta)

Comment 5

[Bryan Henry]

Following the Steps to Produce results in the first of the Actual Results occuring, but not the second. In other words, no error dialog appears and no download begins but there is not a file with a corrupt name in the downloads folder either. The spirit of this bug, however, is still CONFIRMED.

Testcase verified using latest trunk build, buildid: 2008011704.

Comment 6

[Bryan Henry]

Addendum to above comment: Upon testing again, I noticed that a variation of the 2nd "Actual Result" does in fact occur. A .part file does appear, but not in the downloads folder that the alias links to - in my case, it was on the desktop and named "1Bhx4NcO.dmg.part". Otherwise, everything is still the same as before and this still should be confirmed. 

Comment 7

[Bryan Henry]

Confirming bug 409154, still present in trunk.

Last buildid tested: 2008012204 on Mac OS 10.5.1 or 10.5.2 9C20