[wp-hackers] stop HTTP requests made behind one's back

[Doug Stewart]

On Tue, Feb 17, 2009 at 8:34 PM, <jidanni at jidanni.org> wrote:

> HOW ODD, I said to myself, WordPress seems to make a lot of outbound
> HTTP requests, from the minute you first install it.
>
> Why can't there at least be a checkbox provided to make WordPress act
> like MediaWiki: just respond to incoming HTTP requests.
>
> An RSS reader bundled right into the Dashboard? How kind, but I have
> my own. OK, I disabled it along with pings, etc.
>
> cron update_core, update_plugins, update_themes? Again how thoughtful,
> however there should be a way to not trust, and turn off such "beacons".
>
> How is one to install WordPress on a military or intranet where making
> HTTP requests to the Internet is not allowed?
>
> Just rip up wp-includes/http.php? That won't stop other parts of the
> code from then futilely hammering it even more.
>
>

How serendipitous.  I've been working on a BTF (Behind the Firewall) plugin
for my clients for exactly the same reason -- the admin panel is SLOOOOOOOOW
for both WP and WPMU when a firewall/proxy sits between it and the Internet.

This opens this topic to the whole wp-hackers list though, and I'd love an
answer:

How can we get wp-includes/http.php to respect a proxy?  Used to be able to
do it by editing the Snoopy files,  but since the new http interface came
in, it's nigh-impossible.


>

-- 
-Doug