Another suggestion well worth looking into in my opnion:
link fingerprints to automate file verification.
It started being supported by download managers (e.g. GetRight), browser extensions (e.g. mdhashtool for firefox) and others. It would be nice if this was an option in HFS so that URLs are copied with the hash anchors but also available in directory file listings.
I was thinking of adding a command in the right click menu, say, "Copy URL with MD5 hash", or a checkbox option so that whenever the user double-clicks the MD5 hash is computed and added to the link (both in clipboard and in HFS's address bar). You might even redesign a "Copy URL options" submenu and add the option in there.
Here is what i was thinking of:
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Being a link anchor (#), it doesn't create problems for browsers or download managers that do not support link fingerprints. However, I don't think it's a good idea to have this enabled at all times as large files will cause heavy disk activity and cpu usage. You could also have a global option for this, like the ones in the global "Menu > IP address" menu ... some users sharing smaller files might want it globally enabled (not my case though).
Many of the friends I share large files with could benefit from this as they have slow connections and I have to use external tools to create separate md5 files and have them download those as well in order to verify the files locally on their machines using other 3rd party tools. With link fingerprints and the firefox extension or getright for instance they could do it all in one click and at the download finish they would get prompted if the file hash verification failed ... no more thirt party tools and separate files to be hosted and downloaded by neither me or my users.
I think this would make a great addition to HFS and it would probably be one of the first web servers (if not the first ever) to support link fingerprints natively
Anyway, thanks for reading