transmission
Make it easier to only download the torrent for a magnet link
When opening a magnet link, the user get the usual dialog for a full torrent, but with an empty file list (screenshot below).
Now, the user often wants to know which files are available before deciding which of them to download, if at all. But there is no option to download only the torrent, then pause, or bring up the dialog again. At least one of these, and preferably both, should be made available.
This could be a nice feature, but there are some possible annoyances. For one the torrent could have few to 0 seeds or really low availability meaning you could just be waiting forever for it to download the torrent and build the file list. I wrote a script a while back to download torrents from magnet links, but I never end up using it because it would frequently just hang waiting for seeders to share torrent data.
@mohkale :
The torrent could have few to 0 seeds or really low availability meaning you could just be waiting forever for it to download the torrent and build the file list.
If that's the case, it's just as much of a problem right now. And remember I asked for an option to do this, I didn't suggest the user be forced to wait for the proper torrent before authorizing the download.
There's also magnet2torrent.com, which can be used instead of going straight to transmission-gtk.
This could be a nice feature, but there are some possible annoyances. For one the torrent could have few to 0 seeds or really low availability meaning you could just be waiting forever for it to download the torrent and build the file list. I wrote a script a while back to download torrents from magnet links, but I never end up using it because it would frequently just hang waiting for seeders to share torrent data.
This is a non-issue. And the user could always determine if the waiting time for the download of the metadata is too long.
In the same vein: The empty files list is just confusing in these instances. The box where the list would normally be should be removed and in its place should be these checkbox options to select whether to pause download and/or pop up the dialogue with the file list when it's ready.
@forteller : That is certainly a nice suggestion, and related, but I do believe it merits its own issue...
Kinda sorta, the dialog is also used to put the payload in a certain destination folder. And since that breaks nothing, it is a logical implementation. Or at least economical.
Sorry if I was unclear. When talking about "the box" I didn't mean the whole window, just this part:
If that's what you meant, @killemov. So I didn't mean to not show the window, just remove that confusing part from the window and add the option @eyalroz wants there instead :)
The requested option actually has very little to do with the UI anyway, but with a missing step in the download process: "Stop after downloading metadata."
On the macOS client, if you uncheck "Start when added", it does just that. At least, since #2902. Since my fix was a Core change, it affected all platforms. Can you retry with a nightly build to see if unchecking "Start when added" does what you were expecting? If there is still an issue, can you clarify which client you're using: Qt or GTK?
Bump to this feature. It seems preview of content for torrent file is available when dragged into the Windows client. It actually allow you to choose which file to download inside the torrent instead of every single file in the torrent. However, the magnet link on the other hand do NOT show the preview of content. Please make that available for opening a magnet link.
This is testing on v4 beta 3 on Windows.
However, the magnet link on the other hand do NOT show the preview of content. Please make that available for opening a magnet link.
Because there is no known content when you add a magnet. What if it takes a long time to resolve the magnet into a torrent? You want to be stuck in that dialog until that happens? Or do you cancel after a while and not add the magnet at all? As I said before, we need some state/event for when a magnet has been resolved to a torrent.
However, the magnet link on the other hand do NOT show the preview of content. Please make that available for opening a magnet link.
Because there is no known content when you add a magnet. What if it takes a long time to resolve the magnet into a torrent? You want to be stuck in that dialog until that happens? Or do you cancel after a while and not add the magnet at all? As I said before, we need some state/event for when a magnet has been resolved to a torrent.
Pretty much all other client will just let it to resolve the magnet, it will provide a cancel button in case if you don't want to wait or it's stuck.
@sdugoten : Please note that the request here is for the ability to download the torrent via the magnet link without starting the actual download. The exact implementation choice of how to allow this (e.g. an extra button in the dialog; auto-download of the torrent before Ok was pressed; checkbox for pausing after the torrent is downloaded; etc) is up to the developers. We just want this functionality somehow.
Hi.
- For the QT or GTK client, I think that the PR #4528 is aiming at fixing the "Start when added" behavior for magnet links.
- For fetching and previewing magnet links as soon as we drag&drop or click them, it's a nice feature to have (I've seen it in qBittorrent), and it's open for anyone to contribute with their pull request to implement it...
@Coeur : That PR does not seem to address the issue here. It solves #3258 , which is a different issue. But - perhaps I'm misunderstanding. Can you elaborate?
As for "open for anyone to contribute" - that is not a fair statement. Application maintainers - to the extent that they work on the app at all - are obligated to address bugs/misfeatures which are longstanding, which many users complain about, and which do not require unreasonable effort. Even those of us who do FOSS development cannot be expected to contribute code to more than a few projects. I know I do - and I struggle to keep up even with what I maintain.
Hi.
- For the QT or GTK client, I think that the PR fix magnet link start logic #4528 is aiming at fixing the "Start when added" behavior for magnet links.
- For fetching and previewing magnet links as soon as we drag&drop or click them, it's a nice feature to have (I've seen it in qBittorrent), and it's open for anyone to contribute with their pull request to implement it...
Ok, I made a note at https://github.com/transmission/transmission/issues/1611 which seems to be the feature that I am looking for. Thanks.
I think almost everyone is asking for different things here because of what different folks think of as a 'torrent'.
If i understand the original query correctly, @eyalroz wants to be able to add a magnet link, get the metadata, and be able to save the .torrent file without downloading any of the data associated.
I quite like this idea and think it would be useful. The logic would be that the metadata is downloaded when the 'Start when added' box is unchecked and the dialog closed, then the user gets to save the .torrent file for later use, or not.
wants to be able to add a magnet link, get the metadata, and be able to save the .torrent file without downloading any of the data associated.
This actually sounds useful because many times, torrent files do get lost due to hosts going down and the only thing left is the magnet link so being able to easily get the original torrent file from somebody on the DHT in order to re-host it will aid people in preserving torrents.
In fact, qBittorrent already does this at the bottom of the metadata/add torrent page after you add a magnet link. I think it's worth adding if somebody is willing to do the PR.
