Bugzilla – Bug 134717
Profile management doesn´t cover proxy settings
Last modified: 2006-07-03 16:46:37 UTC
I use my notebook in two environments with different proxy settings. As I set both KDE and Firefox to keep to the settings made in YaST2 (over the environment variables) I waned to use it with the "profile management". But unfortunately the proxy settings aren´t covered. When I chane them in one profile they´re changed in all all of the others. IMHO the profile management if a real killer feature but it should cover all of the system settings made in YaST2.
It is not possible to switch proxy settings at runtime. You can not change the environment variables of running shells, and you can't tell a running browser to use another proxy from the outside. But it is possible to use a local proxy with different peer proxy settings, which can be managed by scpm. Please have a look at the scpm info pages (Usage -> Special cases).
If it will be possible to switch the profile at boot then this does make sense, though.
Yes, but it would only work for some applications like wget. Mozilla and co. don't care about the http_proxy environment variable. The local proxy method works for all applications.
Mozilla and firefox do care about the variables (and so the settings done in YaST) if set to "automatically detect proxy settings". I already suggested to make this the default so they would keep to the YaST settings.
Sorry for reopening if it can´t be fixed (or you really won´t fix it) but it does make sense as explained above. I´ve two places where I use my notebook, and I can switch the profile on boot setting the environment variables which both KDE (and all apps) and mozilla/firefox use.
Since firefox will be changed to use the variables and KDE can also be switched to use them will this be implemented now? It would be a really easier solution than your "local proxy" one.
As usual sorry for reopening if you don´t intent to change this. I really don´t want to annoy you and I appreciate that you´re so open for suggestions, it´s just that I think this a very useful feature for some environments and perhaps the bug should be reopened therefor. Since firefox is patched (to regard the settings in YaST) and KDE can also use the variables IMHO the proxy for all applications can now be switched by the system configuration.
*** Bug 147986 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
Could this please be added for 10.1 IMHO it´s not very much work (adding this file to the list of watched files) but a really useful feature.
I'm not sure if it is that useful. Even if firefox and co. honoured the variable, it will only work when booting into a profile. When switching at runtime the change will have no effect until the user re-logs in. Making such a 50 percent solution default is not a very good idea IMHO.
Sorry I don´t see what is only "50 percent" here. Are the other profile settings all changeable at runtime? I don´t think so. Look, I´ve a notebook which I use at university and at home. I´ve to change the proxy every time in YaST2. I don´t need to change it on-the-fly, booting into a profile is enough for me. Or are there only settings which have an effect when changed at runtime?
> Sorry I don´t see what is only "50 percent" here. Are the other profile > settings all changeable at runtime? I don´t think so. They are. At least they are intended to. ;-) > Look, I´ve a notebook which I use at university and at home. I´ve to change > the proxy every time in YaST2. I don´t need to change it on-the-fly, booting > into a profile is enough for me. I don't see the problem. Just add the resource /etc/sysconfig/proxy to scpm. It's even prepared, run 'yast2 profile-manager' -> Configure Resource Groups -> network edit -> double click on /etc/sysconfig/proxy. Afterwards you can configure different proxies in your profiles. > Or are there only settings which have an effect when changed at runtime? No, although I do not understand why this is relevant.
I think the problem Michael is talking about is that if you _boot_ the system under a profile that has different proxy settings, the system will _still_ use the proxy settings of the _previous_ profile. This happens because scpm does update /etc/sysconfig/proxy, but doesn't run SuSEconfig, so that /etc/profile doesn't get the new proxy settings. The problem can be ``manually fixed'' by running SuSEconfig after each profile switch. Of course, scpm could be aware of this and make our lives a bit simplier... ;-) (Note: my experience is on SUSE 10.0)