proxy server allows using std Mosaic with Term

Jim McBeath ([email protected])
Tue, 15 Feb 1994 12:23:53 --100


The new proxy server announced by Kevin Altis makes it possible to run
off-the-shelf Mosaic 2.2 over a Term connection! No more hacking Term
modifications int each new release of Mosaic.

After dialing into my network machine and starting up term on both ends,
here's the shell script I use to start up Mosaic on my home machine:

#!/bin/sh -
remotehost=www1.cern.ch:911
lport=8080
while [ $# -gt 0 ]; do
case $1 in
-r ) remotehost=$2; shift 2;;
-l ) lport=$2; shift 2;;
*) echo "Bad option"; exit 1;;
esac
done
gateway=http://localhost:$lport/
http_proxy=$gateway; export http_proxy
ftp_proxy=$gateway; export ftp_proxy
wais_proxy=$gateway; export wais_proxy
gopher_proxy=$gateway; export gopher_proxy
tredir $lport $remotehost
exec Mosaic

This script sets up (using tredir) a local port (8080) which gets redirected
across the Term connection to the remote proxy server (www1.cern.ch:911).
Whenever Mosaic makes a request, it goes to tredir on port 8080, which
forwards it across the term line to term on the other end, which opens
a connection to www1.cern.ch:911 and forwards the request to it, which
forwards it to the real service. Works great! (Well, actually, I'm
getting a few core dumps in Mosaic 2.2, but I assume that's some other
problem, like the fact that I'm running Solaris 2.2). The same approach
should work for any browser which supports proxying. So now all the folks
out there with Unix machines and Term, but no Motif, can run Mosaic.

I also downloaded cern httpd 2.15 onto my network machine and ran it there,
so that I could use it as my server rather than www1.cern.ch, saving one
internet hop and reducing the load on cern. Works fine also. (I did have to
relink it on my Sun4 to get the resolver linked in.)

Thanks to Ari and Kevin (and all the others for whom I don't have names)
for this latest improvement to the Web.

-Jim McBeath
[email protected]