tiny changes to url-cookie.el

tiny changes to url-cookie.el

[Klaus Straubinger]

There are two changes I would like to suggest for url-cookie.el:

1. The "autoload" in the line before the definition of
   url-cookie-generate-header-lines is misspelled. Maybe it can be
   removed altogether and replaced by an autoload statement in
   url-http.el.

2. The function url-cookie-retrieve constructs its path-regexp with a
   leading "^". This has lead to missing cookie retrievals for me;
   could it simply be removed?

-- 
Klaus Straubinger

Re: tiny changes to url-cookie.el

[Richard M. Stallman]

    2. The function url-cookie-retrieve constructs its path-regexp with a
       leading "^".

That function does not explain very clearly what it is supposed to do.
What does the argument PATH mean?  Could you show me some examples
of it?  Why is it wrong to add ^?  Could you show me the specific
code you are talking about (the reference is somewhat ambiguous)?

Re: tiny changes to url-cookie.el

[Klaus Straubinger]

[url-cookie-retrieve]
> That function does not explain very clearly what it is supposed to do.
> What does the argument PATH mean?

The whole topic is explained in more detail in the document
"http://home.netscape.com/newsref/std/cookie_spec.html" which
is referenced at the beginning of the file url-cookie.el.

In short, the PATH argument is meant to be the local part of the
internet site because sites maybe want to set and retrieve different
cookies for different parts of their site.

> Could you show me some examples of it? Why is it wrong to add ^?

I thought it would require paths starting from "/" (the site's root)
which could not always be true.

But now I have found the root of the problems I had with cookie
retrieval: The function url-http-create-request which builds the HTTP
request calls url-cookie-generate-header-lines already with the wrong
path - but only when dealing with a proxy. It sets a local variable
like this

	 (real-fname (if proxy-obj (url-recreate-url proxy-obj)
		       (url-filename url)))

i.e., if a proxy object is defined, the whole URL is used instead of
only the local part after the host name. The function url-filename
is used to get this part (unfortunately its name does not fit very
well its purpose in this case) and should be applied in the proxy case
as well.

Therefore, I think the two lines above should be replaced by

	 (real-fname (url-filename (if proxy-obj proxy-obj url)))

and no change to url-cookie-retrieve should be necessary. Sorry for the
confusion.

-- 
Klaus Straubinger

Re: tiny changes to url-cookie.el

[Richard M. Stallman]

    In short, the PATH argument is meant to be the local part of the
    internet site because sites maybe want to set and retrieve different
    cookies for different parts of their site.

In that case, we shouldn't call it a "path"; GNU convention is to use
that term only for lists of directories to search.  So I changed those
argument names just now.  I also added a doc string which I could
figure out partly.  But many functions in that file don't have doc
strings, and need them.  Or the doc strings are very sketchy and not
clear.

    Therefore, I think the two lines above should be replaced by

	     (real-fname (url-filename (if proxy-obj proxy-obj url)))

    and no change to url-cookie-retrieve should be necessary. Sorry for the
    confusion.

Thanks.  I will install that change, hoping you're right.
(It is done more cleanly using `or' instead of `if'.)

Re: tiny changes to url-cookie.el

[Klaus Straubinger]

Thank you for applying my suggested changes so quickly.

Unfortunately, after this change URL retrievals over a proxy are no
longer possible.

url-http-create-request has to create a full URL for "GET" if the
connection is over a proxy. Therefore, something like the following
change has to be done:

--- url-http.el~	2005-06-28 08:37:34.000000000 +0200
+++ url-http.el		2005-06-28 08:53:50.938624800 +0200
@@ -199,7 +199,9 @@
     (setq request
 	  (concat
 	   ;; The request
-	   (or url-request-method "GET") " " real-fname " HTTP/" url-http-version "\r\n"
+	   (or url-request-method "GET") " "
+	   (if proxy-obj (url-recreate-url proxy-obj) real-fname)
+	   " HTTP/" url-http-version "\r\n"
 	   ;; Version of MIME we speak
 	   "MIME-Version: 1.0\r\n"
 	   ;; (maybe) Try to keep the connection open


I am really sorry for such bad testing on my side.

-- 
Klaus Straubinger

Re: tiny changes to url-cookie.el

[Richard M. Stallman]

I installed your subsequent fix.
Thanks.