Px v0.8.0

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Just released v0.8.0 which adds PAC file support on Linux plus some internal housekeeping.

Looking forward to feedback from the community on what should come next on the roadmap. Things on the backlog include:

• Official MacOSX support/test coverage
• Support for noproxy hosts - Is there "no proxy" configuration support? #2

Another task is an offline Px installer for Python. Today, the only way to get Px running on a machine stuck behind a corporate proxy is to download and copy over the Nuitka binaries. Every other method like pip, conda or scoop requires internet access and that needs a working Px setup to get through the corporate proxy.

Other housekeeping tasks that affect developers more than Px users include:

• Split out mcurl as an independent Python module
• Split out wproxy as an independent Python module

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v0.8.1 was just posted with a fix for #154. This fix greatly improves how Px leverages libcurl for SSL connections.

In addition, offline Python wheel archives are now posted for Windows and Linux. These are basically all the wheels that Px depends on. To install on your existing Python install, simply run:

python -m pip install px-proxy --no-index -f /path/to/wheels

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v0.8.2 promptly after making further improvements in SSL connection reuse.

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v0.8.3 was just released with multiple fixes.

• Fixed import problem on macos pip install #157 - libcurl wrapper was missing socket definitions for OSX, preventing Px from working altogether
• Fixed Px Proxy Issue on Windows #158 - win32ctypes was not being included in Windows binary, preventing it from working with --username
• Fixed "PROXY" prefix in web.pac #160 - PAC return values were not being parsed into CURLOPT_PROXY schemes, preventing MODE_CONFIG_PAC from working

This is also the first release to include wheels and a Nuitka binary for OSX. They have only been tested as a direct proxy since I don't have a way to test against a real NTLM proxy for OSX. Looking forward to the community verifying that Px still functions as expected.

Px still doesn't know how to get proxy settings out of the system configuration for OSX so it will need to be manually configured in px.ini or via environment variables for now. Also, --quit is broken for script and pip modes, fixes should come soon.

[genotrance]

v0.8.4 was finally released with support for PAC file encoding and multiple PAC related fixes.

• Fixed PAC file encoding #167 - support with --pac_encoding or proxy:pac_encoding in px.ini
• Fixed _quickjs.JSException: InternalError: Python call failed. with PAC file #164 - PAC function myIpAddress() was broken
• Fixed get_destination for local server not using direct connection since 0.8.0 #161 - PAC regex search was failing
• Fixed px status command #171 - Verbose output now implies --foreground for binaries

The focus now shifts to v0.9.0. The first change on the list is to improve NOPROXY. Today NOPROXY only applies to MODE_CONFIG - when the proxy servers are specified directly in the Px configuration. #2 (comment) and #177, suggest expanding the NOPROXY rules to MODE_CONFIG_PAC which is when a PAC server is specified to Px. This seems like a sensible idea since a user might want to extend the NOPROXY rules for their local config but don't have control over the upstream PAC. But that idea applies for MODE_PAC, MODE_AUTO and MODE_MANUAL as well - which are discovered from the Windows proxy configuration. So the first change is to allow local NOPROXY rules to override any upstream proxy.

The second improvement is to use libcurl to handle domains in NOPROXY - a long awaited requirement since #2. Today, Px only handles IP based NOPROXY rules thanks to the netaddr module. libcurl does support IP ranges in CIDR format but only since v7.86 which came out last October, probably too recent to expect in most deployments. Besides, it does not support IP1-IP2 ranges which Px does support. So IP based rules will continue to be handled by Px. Meanwhile, domain based NOPROXY rules have been supported by libcurl since 2009. So all domain based rules will be delegated to libcurl.

The third item on the list is to load proxy settings from the system for OSX. While there are minimal OSX users (per download stats), it seems like a worthwhile feature to implement.

On the list worth consideration is basic and digest auth - #117 - curious if anyone cares for this capability. Also, Px is an HTTP proxy so we could add SSL support but it seems like too much of a headache. Curious about this one too.

Almost all of the Px roadmap is driven by what the users want and report so please vote with your voice. If there's something not on this list that you would like to see, feel free to chime in.