[Bug-wget] wgetrc wget tor proxy

[Zark Page]

dear wonderful Wget team,

i'm trying to download files but am in an insecure location, so need to use as 
much anonymity & privacy as i can, therefore am using Tor, & https whenever 
possible

unfortunately i'm limited, thankfully not for long, to window$ xp64, so till 
Linux becomes available to me (soon) i've installed the 
Vidalia0.2.7+Polipo1.0.4.1+Tor0.2.1.25 (+TorButton for Firefox) bundle for 
window$, as well as the Wget1.11.4-for-window$ installer

(as an aside, in the output further below please note that SYSTEM_WGETRC tried 
for c:/progra~1/wget/etc/wgetrc but i'm on XP64, so that points to a location 
in 64b program files & wget's not in there but in 32b i.e. progra~2... it 
doesn't matter to wget (which looks around till it finds wgetrc), just thought 
i'd point out that the folder doesn't exist in my case... anyway, the important 
stuff follows)

in this setup, Vidalia handles Polipo for me, which in turn handles Tor for me 
(perhaps using socks but that's beyond my scope)

Polipo is reachable to apps like Wget & TorButton-on-Firefox at 
http://127.0.0.1:8118/ according to advice i found via a link on Tor's 
website...

ok, well because my internet connection is dial-up, & stutters along at that, i 
like to use Wget to download large (& medium) -sized files because Firefox 
often borks part-way through but thinks it's fine :( ah well...

so i tried the above suggested path, but came up against this problem (please 
note: www addresses, username & filenames have been changed for privacy 
reasons, but the ones typed here are _valid_ substitutes)

the Help & Man files advise me that i should be able to use e.g. 
http_proxy=http://127.0.0.1:8118/ *in the CLI*, with no wgetrc, but if i do so 
i get no use of Tor, & an error:

C:\Program Files (x86)\GnuWin32\bin>wget 
"http://www.foo.org.uk/images/picture1.png"; -O "D:\picture1.png" 
http_proxy=http://127.0.0.1:8118/
--2010-04-11 19:20:10--  http://www.foo.org.uk/images/picture1.png
Resolving www.foo.org.uk... 123.45.67.890
Connecting to www.foo.org.uk|123.45.67.890|:80... connected.
HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 200 OK
Length: 272 [image/png]
Saving to: `D:/picture1.png'
100%[=========================================================>] 272         
1.3K/s   in 0.1s
2010-04-11 19:20:11 (1.3 K/s) - `D:/picture1.png' saved [272/272]
http_proxy=http://127.0.0.1:8118/: Unsupported scheme.
FINISHED --2010-04-11 19:20:11--
Downloaded: 1 files, 272 in 0.1s (1.3 K/s)

note the above error: "http_proxy=http://127.0.0.1:8118/: Unsupported scheme." 
<- i reckon this means it didn't go through Tor either :(

whereas if i have http_proxy=http://127.0.0.1:8118/ *in my wgetrc*:

C:\Program Files (x86)\GnuWin32\bin>wget 
"http://www.example.org.ca/images/picture2.png"; -O "D:\picture2.png"
SYSTEM_WGETRC = c:/progra~1/wget/etc/wgetrc
syswgetrc = C:\Program Files (x86)\GnuWin32/etc/wgetrc
--2010-04-11 19:35:44--  http://www.example.org.ca/images/picture2.png
Connecting to 127.0.0.1:8118... connected.
Proxy request sent, awaiting response... 200 OK
Length: 604 [image/png]
Saving to: `D:/picture2.png'
100%[=========================================================>] 604          
768B/s   in 0.8s
2010-04-11 19:36:22 (768 B/s) - `D:/picture2.png' saved [604/604]

which seems to work securely

similar tests with & without wgetrc, & using variations on the protocol, or 
using spaces in the cli option (was disastrous), have highlighted this 'bug' in 
the same way

this may not be an issue on Linux, i don't know yet, but as window$ users are 
often in need of extra security (e.g. vast numbers of users of 'copied' window$ 
in China, needing safe access to the internet), may i respectfully advise that 
if this hasn't already been brought to the attention of the Wget devs, it does 
so?  so that, even if it doesn't get 'fixed' as such, a notice may be included 
in the Help & Man files of the workaround...  i am also sending this info. to 
the guys at Tor so that they may include it in advice on their website

thank-you,
'Zark' :)

                                          
_________________________________________________________________
If It Exists, You'll Find it on SEEK. Australia's #1 job site
http://clk.atdmt.com/NMN/go/157639755/direct/01/