Re: proxy.pac -- Proxy Auto-Config File Format

[Gavin McCullagh <lists_gmc@fiachra.ucd.ie>]

On Mon, 04 Oct 2004, Ralf Gesel|ensetter wrote:

> Accordingly, you can even differentiate what / if proxy to use by time of the 
> day and / or the requested host (local, extern; international, regional).

I presume you don't mean this as an access control measure, eg between
8am-4pm the proxy.pac evaluates to the filtered proxy.  Any user can of
course override the proxy whenever they like by just reading the proxy.pac
and setting the proxy they want by hand.  

proxy.pac files can of course be handy for configuration.  My university
uses one as (from what I can see) some kind of load-balancing facility.
I'm not convinced this is the best way to do this but I suppose it's simple
and works.  They seem to use a modified version of this one:

http://naragw.sharp.co.jp/sps/

Clients shouldn't be required to use it either.  Lots of things don't
support proxy.pac (eg APT, wget).

Gavin