<snip>
>> To reduce the risk of filename collision, likely.
>
>
> So? Are the files holy or what? How about good old "ask user to rename
> or overwrite" popup?
>
> Forcing random filenames makes sense only in fully unattended operation
> - and this is not the case with web browser.
>
It turns out that Mozilla starts downloading files *before* you choose
where to save it -
if you've used Mozilla for a while, you may have wondered why sometimes
you click to download
something, go get a beer or whatever, then click save in the dialog box
asking where to save the file and magically the file is downloaded
already! The problem is that this allows malicious entites to install
files in known name/location areas on your computer, which is bad. So,
the filenames are salted to prevent that. This is the id of a Mac bug
that has a fair amount of discussion of the pros and cons of why Moz
does it.
http://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=60203
/andrew
