[OLPC-AU] [Sugar-devel] Software Update and HTTP proxies

[Jerry Vonau]

On Thu, 2011-01-20 at 08:51 +1100, James Cameron wrote:
> 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.
> 
Ok, you can define the proxy in .gconf/system/http_proxy with gnome or
gconftool-2 but the variables don't enter sugar's environment. 

> 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.
> 
At least it can be set somewhere easy. 

> > Can it pick up the same proxy setting as Browse?
> 
> Browse does not use the http_proxy environment variable, so I guess not.
> 
Browse does respect the .gconf/system/http_proxy, when set to a
non-existent proxy, you get a refused error.   

> > 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.
> 
Thanks for the heads up,

Jerry