> Hm, the pac config is used by the browser to get a host name or IP for the
> proxy to use (or "DIRECT" if no proxy is to be used).
>
> Most pac javascript programs are very simple and fairly easy to read and
> understand by human eyes.

well, yeah I would think so, but I've tried to do exactly what you are saying,
and no go.

> Extracting the proxy from there and using in a curl command line should be
> perfectly possible, and the proxy can't know if we used the PAC file or not.
> I don't understand how this can't work. I'd rather guess that something else
> is failing in that case.

I'll try it again, but my experience in the past says that this will not work.
>
> > Trying to bypass any of this is prohibited, because for one, they don't
> > want you to work around their 'protections' against people 'accessing
> > inappropriate sites'. And since websense is pretty common, (and will get
> > more common as networks do filtering) this results in a *huge* usability
> > hole for curl.
>
> While you might look at it that way, I tend to look at it from the other
> direction. The "usability hole" is created by the admins that force you to
> live inside such fences.

well of course. I dislike (intensely) the fact that the company I consult for
has erected such fences. But I'm of the philosophy 'you know, I can't change
the world, so I'll let the world change me.' In other words, I'll adapt. I
think that curl would want to have that philosophy too.

> And as was already pointed out: we certainly don't mind if anyone would fix
> this "hole" and provide this functionality in (lib)curl. It is not just a
> quick patch though. This needs some careful thinkning and some pretty large
> chunk of code.

yes, its just a question of priorities. I would hope that this would be a very
high priority one, since it effectively makes curl unusable for a large swathe
of people in a corporate setting.

like I said, I wouldn't mind undertaking such a task, but I don't think I have
the expertise to do so. I wouldn't mind testing it though.

Ed

_______________________________________________________________

Don't miss the 2002 Sprint PCS Application Developer's Conference
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Received on 2002-05-21