setup.exe : proxy auto-configuration script without IE ?

setup.exe : proxy auto-configuration script without IE ?

[Jérôme Bouat]

Hello,

I'm using cygwin on a thin desktop computer which has limited disk storage.

The network configuration of setup.exe relies on the proxy auto-configuration script of IE.

However, when a package is downloaded, it seems it is stored twice : one time into the IE disk cache and one other time into the cygwin packages disk cache.

Is there a way to make setup.exe understand the auto-configuration script without any web browser ?

Thanks for your reply.

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Re: setup.exe : proxy auto-configuration script without IE ?

[Brian Inglis]

On 2016-09-26 13:35, Jérôme Bouat wrote:
> I'm using cygwin on a thin desktop computer which has limited disk
> storage.
> The network configuration of setup.exe relies on the proxy
> auto-configuration script of IE.

To see your proxy config, try running:

$ wget -q -O - `ipconfig | \
sed '/^\s\+Connection-specific DNS Suffix[. ]\+:\s/!d;
s///;/^\s*$/d;s ^ http://wpad. ;s $ /wpad.dat ' | sort -u`

My ISP returns:

function FindProxyForURL(url, host)
{
                 return("DIRECT");
}

Yours may point to a proxy server.

You may bypass this in Setup dialogue "Select Your Internet Connection"
by selecting "Direct Connection", unless you are blocked from directly
connecting to the internet from your system.

> However, when a package is downloaded, it seems it is stored twice :
> one time into the IE disk cache and one other time into the cygwin
> packages disk cache.

Setup does not use IE for downloading or INetCache for its packages.
I never use IE and have seen no sign of IE cache files appearing after
downloads using Setup or any other products.

Perhaps you have an (old/poor) Anti-Virus product which downloads files
into the IE cache for scanning or unzipping, rather than unzipping and
checking the download as it comes down the wire?
See https://cygwin.com/acronyms/#BLODA and the link in that entry to
https://cygwin.com/faq/faq.html#faq.using.bloda

> Is there a way to make setup.exe understand the auto-configuration
> script without any web browser ?

In Setup dialogue "Select Your Internet Connection" you can select
"Use Internet Explorer Proxy Settings", if you can not use a direct
connection.

-- 
Take care. Thanks, Brian Inglis, Calgary, Alberta, Canada

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Re: setup.exe : proxy auto-configuration script without IE ?

[Linda Walsh]

Jérôme Bouat wrote:
> Hello,
> 
> I'm using cygwin on a thin desktop computer which has limited disk storage.
> 
> The network configuration of setup.exe relies on the proxy 
> auto-configuration script of IE.
---
	Actually, it doesn't "rely" on it, it offers to
use whatever "IE" is set to instead of a direct-connection, in the
belief (I believe), that most users will have IE configure -- if for no
other reason, that it is the only browser that will be able to get anything
downloaded to their system -- so if direct doesn't work, then IE almost
has to be configured to access the internet to download *anything*.

> 
> However, when a package is downloaded, it seems it is stored twice : one 
> time into the IE disk cache and one other time into the cygwin packages 
> disk cache.
----
	??? What makes you think it is downloaded into the IE disk cache?
I don't think it should be -- as AFAIK, it doesn't use IE to download
anything, it just copies the settings so it can use the same settings.

	If you can't access the internet, how would you download anything
to your system?  If you need a special proxy, wouldn't you have configured
IE with the special proxy so it can download anything else?


> Is there a way to make setup.exe understand the auto-configuration 
> script without any web browser ?
---
	As far as I know, it does.  What makes you think it is using
IE's cache?  You might configure IE to empty its cache when it exits, 
that way you won't see any false positives.

-l

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Re: setup.exe : proxy auto-configuration script without IE ?

[David Stacey]

On 27/09/16 03:24, Linda Walsh wrote:
> What makes you think it is downloaded into the IE disk cache?
> I don't think it should be -- as AFAIK, it doesn't use IE to download
> anything


setup using IE to do its downloading is a bad idea. But, that got me 
thinking, so allow me a crazy thought. AFAIK, Cygwin's setup can't use a 
HTTPS mirror [1]. Given the desire to move more and more web traffic 
onto HTTPS, would an option to download through IE be a cheap way to add 
HTTPS support to setup?

Dave.

[1] Such as https://mirrorservice.org/sites/sourceware.org/pub/cygwin/ 
(which has a HTTP equivalent, I know...)


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Re: setup.exe : proxy auto-configuration script without IE ?

[Brian Inglis]

On 2016-09-27 12:29, David Stacey wrote:
> On 27/09/16 03:24, Linda Walsh wrote:
>> What makes you think it is downloaded into the IE disk cache? I
>> don't think it should be -- as AFAIK, it doesn't use IE to
>> download anything
> setup using IE to do its downloading is a bad idea. But, that got me
> thinking, so allow me a crazy thought. AFAIK, Cygwin's setup can't
> use a HTTPS mirror [1]. Given the desire to move more and more web
> traffic onto HTTPS, would an option to download through IE be a cheap
> way to add HTTPS support to setup?
> [1] Such as
> https://mirrorservice.org/sites/sourceware.org/pub/cygwin/ (which has
> a HTTP equivalent, I know...)

Would probably be easier to replace the existing plumbing using libcurl
rather than dealing with IE over COM or whatever the Win10 version is.

-- 
Take care. Thanks, Brian Inglis, Calgary, Alberta, Canada

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Re: setup.exe : proxy auto-configuration script without IE ?

[Jérôme Bouat]

>     If you can't access the internet, how would you download anything
> to your system?

My organisation forbids the use of IE. The corporate web browser is Firefox.


> What makes you think it is using
> IE's cache?

I just performed this simple test :
1. clear the IE disk cache
2. use Setup.exe in order to update cygwin through the "IE proxy settings"
3. look at the temporary Internet files and the cygwin downloaded packages directory

You will see your "tar.xz" packages in both files trees.


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Re: setup.exe : proxy auto-configuration script without IE ?

[Andrey Repin]

Greetings, Jérôme Bouat!

>>     If you can't access the internet, how would you download anything
>> to your system?

> My organisation forbids the use of IE. The corporate web browser is Firefox.

Doesn't change the fact proxy settings are available in control panel.

>> What makes you think it is using
>> IE's cache?

> I just performed this simple test :
> 1. clear the IE disk cache
> 2. use Setup.exe in order to update cygwin through the "IE proxy settings"
> 3. look at the temporary Internet files and the cygwin downloaded packages directory

> You will see your "tar.xz" packages in both files trees.

Then your system does something nasty.


-- 
With best regards,
Andrey Repin
Saturday, October 1, 2016 11:52:02

Sorry for my terrible english...