Why does pip install require proxy details to be explicit while web browsers can read from the network config from the system?

As in this answer, Why does pip install require proxy details to be explicit while web browsers can read network configs from system?

OS: Ubuntu

nehemiah

Posted 2017-02-01T04:59:54.740

Reputation: 259

Because it ignores the system network config, just as many other applications do. – PulseJet – 2017-02-01T05:41:37.133

2@RadialApps: That's just repeating the question though. Why does it ignore the system network config (and why do other apps do that as well)? – user1686 – 2017-02-01T06:11:29.547

1@grawity, but then isn't this just about the specific implementation? There really is no rule for applications to respect these proxy settings. Maybe submit a patch to Python? – PulseJet – 2017-02-01T06:18:07.387

2It’s a design decision. It’s not like using the environment variables (http_proxy etc) comes “free”. You need to make it work. Or you don’t. If you want to know, ask the developers. – Daniel B – 2017-02-01T06:23:05.797

Answers

You would have to talk to the maintainer/developer of the individual software components and ask them why they choose to ignore the system proxy. It's decision that is being made (sometimes maybe unknowingly) by them as they're writing the code for the component. Some of the reasons might be:

They simply don't know that people actually use proxies.
They assume that you might want to setup a separate proxy (or a web proxy might not be enough).
They want to be easier to port so they avoid using approaches that tie into the system too much.
They don't know how to actually handle proxies in code.

Seth

Posted 2017-02-01T04:59:54.740

Reputation: 7 657