Bug#54524: http_proxy and web clients.
> > This is already standard, but I think it should be into policy because I
> > already saw some programs deviating from this expected behaviour.
> I'm not aware of netscrape doing this, for example. And it's better to
> use /etc/lynx.conf to make lynx do it too, as it prevents lusers
> forgetting to configure a proxy.
Lynx and Netscape already honor the policy I'm proposing.
> > Web clients should default to try to fetch URLs by a direct connection to
> > the target host. If the `http_proxy' variable is defined, it should specify
> Nope. I am writing a web client that connects to a local proxy server
> ATM as it happens; RFC2068 explains that you should use proxies
> wherever possible rather than connecting direct to the target server.
Of course. What I say is that programs should default to try to connect
directly if there's no config var, command line switch, or this env
variable. And that's pretty obvious, isn't it? =)
> I think your ideas may be suitable for wishlist bugs against packages
> that don't do what you want, but it shouldn't go into policy.
No. The maintainers could close the wishlist without doing anything.
The policy is just a tool to set a standard nehavious of programs, and I
think that a standard behaviour is useful here: When I set a system that
many users will use, I will configure it so the users son't need to be
bothered by anything. That includes setting the proper http_* variables in
/etc/profile, and it works great, since wget, lynx, netscape and others
respect those vars. What I am saying is that we should recognize this common
practice in our policy...
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