[announce] gnome-proxy

[Nathaniel McCallum <nathaniel natemccallum com>]

I'd like to announce a proof-of-concept I've been working on and
hopefully get some feedback/help moving forward.

gnome-proxy (http://code.google.com/p/gnome-proxy/) is a replacement for
gnome-network-preferences with the following added features:
  * Per-network proxy settings (via NetworkManager)
  * Support for the widely deployed WPAD and PAC non-specs
  * Easy D-Bus API providing optional (soft) dependency
  * Automatic profile switching (via NetworkManager)
  * The goal of JustWorks (no manual proxy configuration/switching)

gnome-proxy-daemon is a user-session daemon that provides the D-Bus
method org.gnome.Proxy.getProxy(url).  All the details of proxy settings
are hidden behind that D-Bus call.  Applications would no longer need to
correctly parse various gconf keys, but just simply call one method.
Additionally this handles NetworkManager network-switching as well as
auto-updating the old gconf keys for backwards compatibility with
gnome-network-preferences.

gnome-proxy-preferences is similar to gnome-network-preferences with the
added benefit of the ability to handle per-network profiles.

Of course, this is still just a proof-of-concept, so I expect a lot of
bugs (though, this does work pretty well for me).  Don't blame me if it
eats your computer, your hand or your dog.  I am definitely accepting
patches, bug reports, etc.

gnome-proxy requires libwpad (http://code.google.com/p/wpad/) for
WPAD/PAC support. libwpad in turn also (ATM) requires Firefox.  Again, I
am accepting patches.

gnome-proxy TODO:
  * proper build system
  * translation
  * polish, bug fixes, etc

libwpad TODO:
  * build system polish
  * Implement DHCP query support
  * Implement SLP support (maybe)
  * Support for spidermonkey or another js engine (apart from FF)
  * make a real release

Anyway, give it a spin, let me know how it goes...

Nathaniel