[Sugar-devel] Software Update and HTTP proxies

[James Cameron]

On Thu, Jan 20, 2011 at 12:53:15AM +1100, Sridhar Dhanapalan wrote:
> Can Software Update as seen in Sugar 0.84 on OLPC OS be made to work
> through HTTP proxies?

Yes.  It uses the http_proxy environment variable if that is defined.  I
was able to add that to .sugar/debug and as a result tcpdump showed me
that Software update was using the proxy.

If the proxy requires authentication, then the authentication tokens
should be included in the http_proxy value.  The school can provide a
proxy account that (a) only works with the addresses desired, (b) blocks
particular activities, and (c) helps to isolate normal Browse use of the
laptop from Software update.

export http_proxy=http://$USER:$PASS@$PROXY:$PORT/

or

export http_proxy=http://$PROXY:$PORT/

where

$USER is the username for authentication,
$PASS is the password for authentication,
$PROXY is the host name or IP address of the proxy server,
$PORT is the TCP port number to connect to on the proxy server.

> Can it pick up the same proxy setting as Browse?

Browse does not use the http_proxy environment variable, so I guess not.

> The problem we have is that the Internet at all the schools in
> Australia have HTTP proxies, so Software Update won't work on its own.

The problem we have is that Sugar, unlike GNOME, does not have a desktop
configuration item for HTTP proxy?  I can't imagine primary school
children getting that right.  ;-)

In environments with the XS School Server, a transparent proxy can be
configured.  That's one of the main benefits, in my opinion.

-- 
James Cameron
http://quozl.linux.org.au/