It appears that otter-browser, when using QtWebEngine as its backend, is
unable to use proxies. I've tried the following:
1) a proxy defined in the browser settings, selected:
a) in the settings interface itself,
b) through the Quick Preferences menu;
2) the environment variables http{,s}_proxy and uppercase equivalents.
None of these appear to do anything. The computer I'm running it on is
blocked from accessing the global Internet except through a proxy, and
thus the result is a failure to load any non-local web pages whatsoever,
which effectively renders the browser unusable on that host.
This may have security and/or privacy implications for anyone wishing to
use different proxies for different websites without blocking non-LAN
access per se, as your "real IP" will silently be used to connect
instead with no indication to the user that their proxy settings are
being ignored.
This is not a regression introduced in the latest version of the browser
itself, as changing the port Makefile to use QtWebKit instead fixes the
issue. I am currently doing this as a workaround.
Steps to replicate:
1) Setup a local HTTP proxy;
2) Block a host (other than the proxy host) from everything but the LAN;
3) On that host, attempt any method of setting a proxy in otter-browser;
4) Load any non-local web page. It will fail to connect.
(On an unrelated note, the error page itself breaks with JavaScript
disabled, showing just a blank page with a blank button on it.)
--
A Dog
