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urllib proxy interface is too limited #52330
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| BPO | 8083 |
|---|---|
| Nosy | @ronaldoussoren, @orsenthil |
Note: these values reflect the state of the issue at the time it was migrated and might not reflect the current state.
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GitHub fields:
assignee = 'https://github.com/orsenthil'
closed_at = None
created_at = <Date 2010-03-07.11:22:53.071>
labels = ['type-feature', 'library']
title = 'urllib proxy interface is too limited'
updated_at = <Date 2013-10-20.18:22:13.381>
user = 'https://github.com/ronaldoussoren'bugs.python.org fields:
activity = <Date 2013-10-20.18:22:13.381>
actor = 'numerodix'
assignee = 'orsenthil'
closed = False
closed_date = None
closer = None
components = ['Library (Lib)']
creation = <Date 2010-03-07.11:22:53.071>
creator = 'ronaldoussoren'
dependencies = []
files = []
hgrepos = []
issue_num = 8083
keywords = []
message_count = 2.0
messages = ['100573', '100714']
nosy_count = 6.0
nosy_names = ['ronaldoussoren', 'orsenthil', 'Dominique.Leuenberger', 'tshepang', 'Ankur.Ankan', 'numerodix']
pr_nums = []
priority = 'normal'
resolution = None
stage = 'needs patch'
status = 'open'
superseder = None
type = 'enhancement'
url = 'https://bugs.python.org/issue8083'
versions = ['Python 3.4']Linked PRs
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ronaldoussoren commentedon Mar 7, 2010
The proxy support code in urllib is imho too specific and cannot easily support dynamic proxy configuration using a proxy.pac file.
That is, the code assumes that there is at most one proxy per protocol, while this is not quite true in practice. A proxy.pac can refer different URLs to different proxies (or exclude some from proxying).
This could be solved by adding a new proxy hook to urllib, something like:
That is, the argument is the string for an URL, the result is a list of proxies that can be used to fetch the URL.
This hook would allow us to provide a hook on OSX that enables python scripts to use the system proxy settings, even when those are complex (such as by using proxy autoconfiguration).
DominiqueLeuenberger commentedon Mar 9, 2010
I like the idea of having the proxy handler expanded. In fact I suggest to base the idea on libproxy ( http://code.google.com/p/libproxy ) which is available on Linux / openSolaris / Windows and Mac (currently).
Libproxy queries the correct settings to be used from KDE and gnome, depending on the currently running session. A fallback is of course env.
the API of libproxy is very simple and python bindings are available.
orsenthil commentedon Nov 8, 2026
Current libproxy reference - https://github.com/libproxy/libproxy
If we link against this maintained library and pass the proxy handling configuration to be handled by the library, that would be a better idea than re-implementing parts of this library in python.
orsenthil commentedon Nov 9, 2026
This request will be best be handled by https://pypac.readthedocs.io/en/latest/
If we document how to use
urllib.requestwith pypac, it will be sufficient to address and close this ticket, in my opinion.orsenthil commentedon Nov 10, 2026
Here is a PR that explains how urllib interface can be used along with pypac pypi package - #161729
I had a driver function to test this - https://github.com/orsenthil/urllib-pac-recipe and verify that suggested approach in the documentation will work.