Re: Strange change in Icecat.

[Colby Russell]

Indeed it is the Content-Disposition header that would be the culprit.
However, assuming no invasive changes by Icecat (I use Firefox, not
Icecat), the Icecat update should not have caused the problem here.
Maybe the server administrators changed their configuration, so now it
is sending the "attachment" Content-Disposition where it wasn't before,
the timing is merely coincidental?

There is the opportunity to use a hack in the form of a bookmarklet to
use as a workaround.  I have created a bookmarklet and confirmed that it
works, but bookmarklets are hard to share.  So refer to the page:

<https://crussell.ichi.city/bookmarklets/inline-media.html>

Bookmarklet installation:

1. Visit the above URL
2. Add the "Use inline media element" bookmarklet to your browser
   bookmarks (e.g. drag and drop to your bookmarks toolbar or bookmarks
   sidebar, or right click and select "Bookmark Link")

Bookmarklet usage:

1. Attempt to open the affected media file in a new tab; the URL, for
   convenience/reference: <https://skeptoid.com/audio/skeptoid-4812.mp3>
2. Click "Cancel" in Icecat/Firefox's Download dialog to prevent it
   from attempting to download and open in your native media player
3. Copy the URL of the media file in step 1 from the location bar
4. Invoke the bookmarklet you installed earlier; you can search by
   bookmarklet name ("Use inline media element") if using the bookmarks
   sidebar
5. When prompted, paste the URL you copied in step 3 and press "OK"

This should work for similar use cases, i.e. files on other servers, but
I'm unsure how well it works if the server is configured to look at
referrers on media requests and reject the request if it originates
off-site.  If you encounter such a server, the bookmarklet will probably
fail.  Another pitfall is that the bookmarklet will _only_ work if you
activate it from a new tab.  If, for example, you are on a page that
links to an affected media file you merely click the link to try to open
the file in the _same_ tab, then the bookmarklet will not work. This
failure will be silent, since I have not taken time and space to think
through the best way to provide feedback.  It's easier to pass on the
responsibility here and say to always remember to invoke the bookmarklet
after attempting to open the affected media file in new, clean
("about:blank") tab.

You can tweak the bookmarklet code using the embedded Bookmarklet
Creator tool on the page I linked to which contains the ready-made
bookmarklet and then generating a new one (with the "Create Bookmarklet"
button): <https://crussell.ichi.city/bookmarklets/inline-media.html>

--
Colby Russell