Setting http_proxy globally within KDE

[marek_online]

Hi,

My lntrepid/KDE 4.2 laptop gets moved a lot to and from work, where it sits behind a proxy server. I use switchProxy for Firefox and kproxyswitch for easing the transition, but several programs that I use draw their proxy configuration from the http_proxy environment variable directly (notably Dropbox, though the adept_manager does too). Is there a way to easily set that variable that will be maintained system wide?

Obviously, I can run an "export" command within a terminal, but the setting is for that session only and vanishes when the terminal closes, so programs run from the desktop won't pick it up.

I have a script bound to a keyboard shortcut which includes the appropriate export command and runs kproxyswitch along with a couple of other bits of network-related housekeeping, but it seems to have no effect for those http_proxy-needing apps.

Any suggestions would be very welcome.

[Teunis]

Re: Setting http_proxy globally within KDE

I'm not a network expert but do at times connect through corporate networks with a proxy.

I find simply using the Firefox network settings covering all I need.
Because I have only one fixed proxy to worry about I just check or uncheck the proxy box.

Without Firefox Network Settings in System Settings works as well.

[marek_online]

Re: Setting http_proxy globally within KDE

Thanks Teunis, but it's precisely the Network Settings proxy configuration that isn't working for me. That configures the proxy for KDE applications, but not system-wide, so any program that doesn't check the KDE settings doesn't know which proxy to use.

Firefox is not a problem - I have the SwitchProxy extension installed, which allows me to switch between several proxies with a simple click on the status bar, which is just grand.

The trick is non-desktop-specific programs like Dropbox, which only check the general http_proxy environment variable specifically.

Cheers though.