Auto-sort download order to better detect encryption

[yukichigai]

One of the banes of every downloader's existence are encrypted archives. It used to be that with the rar format the indicators of encryption would always show up in the first segment of a split rar file, but there's apparently a newer method that puts that data in the last segment. What this usually means is that you'll wind up downloading 98% of a rar collection only for Sabnzbd to pause on the last segment when it finally detects encryption. If you take the last segment (e.g. filename.r22) and move it to the top of the download manually, Sabnzbd will detect the encryption right off the bat, saving you that much time and bandwidth.

What I suggest is a default option that detects split-rar collections and moves the first and last segments to the top of the queue for each individual collection. It would be nice if this worked for multi-collection nzbs, e.g. if you make an nzb of the first twelve episodes of some show, sabnzbd will manually move "episode1.r00", "episode1.r22", "episode2.r00", "episode2.r22", etc. to the top of the queue, but that's not vital. Just having something that works for individual downloads, e.g. an nzb that's JUST "episode1", would be a godsend.

[shypike]

This is not a generic solution.
It's simply not true that all encrypted downloads are only detectable by looking at the last segment.
Do you have some example NZB files that show this behaviour?
Please email to [email protected]

[yukichigai]

This is not a generic solution.
It's simply not true that all encrypted downloads are only detectable by looking at the last segment.
Do you have some example NZB files that show this behaviour?
Please email to [email protected]

Empirically it is. If it doesn't detect encryption in the first split file it will detect it in the last. Multiple users have reported this behavior numerous times. I don't know why you seem so resistant to this information.

I'll produce some nzbs that demonstrate the issue; it will not be hard. I've already identified one collection that does it in this thread, though admittedly you would need to click the "create NZB" button yourself.

EDIT: something else to consider is the fact that the last rar file in a set is invariably the smallest. Even if order doesn't matter on detection for a specific download (rare anymore), downloading the last file first will mean less data downloaded before detection occurs.

[shypike]

I don't know why you seem so resistant to this information.

Simple. It must be a recent trend, it wasn't an issue when I implemented the detection.
Which is not surprising: the poster wants you to download the full post.
Once you did the investment of downloading, you're more likely to follow up
their shitty "password retrieval" sites.
Face it: it's a cat-and-mouse game, soon after this is fixed, the next trick will come along.

[shypike]

It has nothing to do with the ordering of the files.
There's an error in the way SABnzbd detects "cloaked" encryption.
Changing the order makes a difference because that causes a secondary detection method to trigger.

[yukichigai]

It has nothing to do with the ordering of the files.
There's an error in the way SABnzbd detects "cloaked" encryption.
Changing the order makes a difference because that causes a secondary detection method to trigger.

Interesting. Is there a hidden switch we can activate to force this secondary detection method on every download, or will we have to wait for the next version?

[shypike]

Is there a hidden switch we can activate to force this secondary detection method on every download, or will we have to wait for the next version?

No, it's just the part of the detection that comes after the first check.
I don't spell the spec out to prevent the bad guys from becoming any wiser.
So yes, you're going to have to sit this one out.
I'll probably release a 0.7.12 soon, because waiting for 0.8.0 to become mature will take too long.