257542 - Proxy support in TB [Meta]

Status: RESOLVED INCOMPLETE

(MailNews Core :: Networking, defect)

Description

[benc]

Although closely related to mailnews, TB has proxy support and UI issues that
are specific to the implementation.

This bug is a meta/tracker for those issues.

Comment 1

[Philipp Dreimann]

the proxy support is there, but it doesnt work in all enviroments....

firefox works with the same settings.

i just get an connection timeout message.

i think that it doesnt uses the http-poxy connect feature.

Comment 2

[Mike Cowperthwaite]

(In reply to comment #1)
> i think that it doesnt uses the http-poxy connect feature.

That's not my observartion.  My installation of TB has picked up from somewhere 
the proxy settings I had in Mozilla:
  user_pref("network.proxy.http", "AdSubtract");
  user_pref("network.proxy.http_port", 4444);
  user_pref("network.proxy.type", 1);
(I *might* have configured that manually when I first installed TB, but I don't 
specifically remember doing so.)
AdSubtract is a proxy that runs on my system to filter HTTP requests.

I just checked, and the HTTP proxy is in fact being used by TB: when I open an 
HTML message with remote images, I can watch my firewall's monitor and see the 
ports open to AdSubtract.  Similarly, opening an RSS item, a port opens in 
AdSubtract to feed the data back thru the proxy.

And there is a UI to set this up, in Options|Advanced, under "Online and 
Connection Settings."


There appears to be no backend proxy support for NNTP, NEWS, SNEWS, POP3, 
SecurePOP, SMTP, or IMAP -- certainly there is no UI for it; see bug 23728.

Comment 3

[Sergey Starosek]

Broken proxy support makes software updates feature unusable.

I'm behind corporate HTTP proxy that requires authentication. Even if all proxy
settings are correct (http and https), TB still tries to connect to update site
directly.

Comment 4

[benc]

Sergey: I'm not familiar w/ the update mechanism. Is it unique to TB, or is it
in FF and MZ?

Comment 5

[Sergey Starosek]

It's the same:
Tools->Options->Advanced->Software Update
(Edit-Preferences->Advanced->Software Update in FF).

TB connects to proxy as specified in Connection Settings but does not ask for
proxy credentials. The same happens if trying to update installed extentions.

Comment 6

[Mike Cowperthwaite]

(In reply to comment #3)
> I'm behind corporate HTTP proxy that requires authentication.

Bug 267665 says proxy auth'n does not work (0.9, RSS)
Bug 265292 says proxy auth'n is too simplistic
Bug 265337 says proxy auth'n dialog yields another when cancelled

I don't have access to an authenticating proxy, so I can't test this stuff.

Comment 7

[pbriggeman]

Installed TB on WinXPSP2 configured proxy, settings saved, but never connects to
proxy in the config.

Comment 8

[Sergey Starosek]

Interesting workaround for proxies with authentication:

There should be a message in the mailbox with an attached HTML document which
referes to an external stylesheet (via LINK element). Opening such message
brings up authentication dialog and after successful authentication everything
works fine (plugins update, RSS feeds)

Comment 9

[BugZRevengE]

Software Update does not use the proxy settings at all.  I am connected on our
corporate network only via a proxy, and Thunderbird times out when running
software update.  The proxy logs show no connection attempt at all.  Proxy
settings work fine for email messages.

Comment 10

[benc]

BugZRevengE: can you look at bug 259429?

Comment 11

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

this isn't much of a meta with only one closed bug.  Is there anything else to be done with proxies?

Comment 12

[benc]

Wayne: There are probably a lot of issues that need to be linked.

Comment 13

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

(In reply to comment #12)
> Wayne: There are probably a lot of issues that need to be linked.

If you can update it that would be great. Otherwise, it serves no purpose and we should probably close it out.  thanks.

Comment 14

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

Can you fine gents individually or as a group triage the "Thunderbird proxy bugs" space?  And make appropriate changes to this Meta bug?  Otherwise, this meta isn't useful, and not many proxy bugs may make it into Thunderbird v3.

starting query https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/buglist.cgi?query_format=advanced&short_desc_type=anywords&short_desc=proxy+imap+pop3+pop+account+accounts&product=MailNews+Core&product=Thunderbird&long_desc_type=allwordssubstr&long_desc=proxy&bug_file_loc_type=allwordssubstr&bug_file_loc=&status_whiteboard_type=allwordssubstr&status_whiteboard=&keywords_type=allwords&keywords=&resolution=---&emailreporter1=1&emailtype1=substring&email1=&emailassigned_to2=1&emailreporter2=1&emailqa_contact2=1&emailtype2=substring&email2=&bugidtype=include&bug_id=&votes=&chfieldfrom=&chfieldto=Now&chfieldvalue=&cmdtype=doit&order=Reuse+same+sort+as+last+time&field0-0-0=noop&type0-0-0=noop&value0-0-0=

Comment 15

[Ludovic Hirlimann [:Usul]]

So still no bugs linked here, and why do we keep this bug and bug 23728 I fail to see the difference ....

Comment 16

[Mark Banner (:standard8)]

I think we haven't got a clear maintainer here. I'm not quite sure of the different with bug 23728 but that could just be the fact that says "Mail" and this is more general. 

Given no-one is maintaining this and helping manage/push forward the bugs, marking as incomplete - it is not adding any value. The various proxy bugs that we have filed can still be fixed without this bug.