Webtorrent still makes itself the default app for .torrent files

[goofrider]

System version: OSX Catalina 10.15.x
WebTorrent version: 0.23.0 (0.108.6)

WebTorrent automatically made itself the default app for .torrent files without asking. I went into SwiftDefaultApps to changed it back to Transmission, but a month later WebTorrent made itself the default again.

The preference option doesn't seem to work correctly to remove itself as the default. Webtorrent would take over as default app and still shows the option to make itself the default app in its pref pane. If I click on it to make it the default app, there's no option to unset it as the default.

Sorry I didn't know there's a 0.24 release already so I'm gonna download it and try it now to see if the problem presists with 0.24.

[goofrider]

Just tried 0.24. It says it's the default app when it's not as I clicked on it one time before (to see if it'll allow me to unset it). It hasn't taken over as default tho just by running it.

Basically the same behavior as 0.23. And may potentially still mysteriously take over .torrent files some time later without asking.

Anyways it's just a minor annoyance, at least for those of us who know how to change the default app using other means like SwiftDefaultApps and Duti. I;m just submitting this in case others also have this issue,

[dsernst]

Hmm, this sounds frustrating. Thank you for filing this report.

[feross]

Yeah, this feature doesn't seem like it's working correctly anymore.

[idkwhojamesis]

Does it have to do with conflicting file handler ranks? Comparing LSHandlerRank for .torrent in info.plist in Transmission vs. Webtorrent, they are both set to Owner, the highest priority.

One interesting difference is that CFBundleTypeRole is set to Viewer in Transmission vs. Editor in Webtorrent; maybe this also makes a difference?

If this older post about Mac file associations is still correct, the OS seems to set the earliest installed app as the default.