Files/Download Manager For Discourse

[dmitry_fedyuk (Dmitrii Fediuk)]

@purldator

reason I can see this as something useful is to handle downloads. Like a download manager to pass and handle permissions per file.

@elberet

Per-file permissions would be a completely new feature for Discourse and require a lot more work before the UI becomes relevant. Not that such permissions wouldn’t be welcome… right now, if you are logged in and know a file’s URL, you can download the file even if it was posted in a restricted category that you cannot access or in a direct message.

@purldator

Yeah, that’s a bit of a problem. That would rely on users or staff being honest and not sharing links.

@riking

Uploads do not have source information associated with them, the only protection available is “prevent anons from downloading files”.

My «Restrict Files» plugin solves the problem of access control to forum digital content (downloads).
The forum owner can grant the download permissions only to a particular forum groups / or to users with specified trust level and withdraw download permissions from other groups / users.
An example of restricted file: http://discourse.pro/file/113
You can not download it neither anonymously nor by just registering on the forum.
You must be a member of permitted user group to download the file.
You can test it yourself:
A test account without download permissions: login: test_bob, password: 123456
A test account with download permissions: login: test_john, password: 654321
A file is always permitted to be downloaded by its uploader.