ikiwiki/doc/bugs/http_proxy_for_openid.mdwn

If I try to authenticate using openid to my site, it tries to create a http or https connection to the openid server. This doesn't work, because the direct connection is blocked by the firewall.

It would be good if ikiwiki supported setting up a proxy server to solve this.

I have found if I add:

    newenviron[i++]="HTTPS_PROXY=http://host.domain.com:3128";

to IkiWiki/Wrapper.pm it solves the problem for https requests, however it obviously would be preferred if the proxy name is not hard coded.

Also, the ability to set HTTPS\_CA\_FILE and HTTPS\_CA\_DIR might benefit some people. Then again, it I can't see any evidence that the SSL certificate of the server is being checked. See the [[bug_report|ssl_certificates_not_checked_with_openid]] I filed on this separate issue.

Unfortunately, HTTP\_PROXY doesn't work for http:// requests, it looks like that library is different.

---

Update 2008-10-26:

Better solution, one that works for both http and https, and uses config options. It appears to work...

Note that using $ua->proxy(['https'], ...); won't work, you get a "Not Implemented" error, see <http://community.activestate.com/forum-topic/lwp-https-requests-proxy>. Also see [[!debbug 129528]].

Also note that the proxy won't work with liblwpx-paranoidagent-perl, I had to remove liblwpx-paranoidagent-perl first.

<pre>
louie:/usr/share/perl5/IkiWiki/Plugin# diff -u openid.pm.old openid.pm
--- openid.pm.old	2008-10-26 12:18:58.094489360 +1100
+++ openid.pm	2008-10-26 12:40:05.763429880 +1100
@@ -165,6 +165,14 @@
 	        $ua=LWP::UserAgent->new;
 	}
 
+	if (defined($config{"http_proxy"})) {
+		$ua->proxy(['http'], $config{"http_proxy"});
+	}
+
+	if (defined($config{"https_proxy"})) {
+		$ENV{HTTPS_PROXY} = $config{"https_proxy"};
+	}
+
 	# Store the secret in the session.
 	my $secret=$session->param("openid_secret");
 	if (! defined $secret) {
</pre>

Brian May

> Rather than adding config file settings for every useful environment 
> variable, there is a ENV config file setting that can be used to set
> any environment variables you like. So, no changed needed.
> --[[Joey]] 

>> One thing I don't like about using ikiwiki for tracking bugs is I don't
>> get notified when changes are made :-(.
>>
>> Anyway, if you look at the code I pasted above, the environment variables
>> do not work for http:// - you have to use $ua->proxy(...) for them.
>> This is significant, because all openid servers in my version appear to have been
>> defined with http:// not https://  in /usr/share/ikiwiki/openid-selector/ikiwiki/openid/openid-jquery.js
>>
>> Use $ua->env_proxy() to get it to read the environment variables. Then http:// does work.
>>
>> Unfortunately this breaks https:// even more - but nothing I do seems to make https:// work anymore.


>>> LWP::UserAgent defaults to not caring about proxy settings in
>>> the environment. (To give control over the result, I guess?) 
>>> To get it to care, pass `env_proxy => 1` to the constructor. Affected
>>> plugins: aggregate, openid, pinger. This probably wants to be on
>>> by default, and might not need to be configurable. --[[schmonz]]

>>>> Okay, in a real-world scenario it does need to be 
>>>> configurable. A working implementation (tested with aggregate,
>>>> not tested with the other two plugins) is in my git, commit
>>>> 91c46819dee237a281909b0c7e65718eb43f4119. --[[schmonz]]

>>>>> Oh, and according to the LWPx::ParanoidAgent docs, "proxy support is 
>>>>> explicitly removed", so if ikiwiki can preferentially find that 
>>>>> installed, even with the above commit, `openid` won't be able to 
>>>>> traverse a proxy. --[[schmonz]]