[tor-talk] Proxy Use 101

[Roger Dingledine]

On Sun, Jul 31, 2011 at 03:09:12AM +0000, Jack Waugh wrote:
> When you configure Firefox to point to an HTTP proxy and a SOCKS proxy,
>how does Firefox know which to use?

It uses the http proxy if it's set and you've attempted an http
connection. If it's not set and you've attempted an http connection,
it falls back to the socks proxy.

If you're doing a non-http connection, it ignores your http proxy.

In the old model where you should use polipo, you would set your http
proxy to point to polipo and your socks proxy to point to tor. In the
new model where polipo isn't needed anymore, you should simply set your
socks proxy to point to tor.

In any case, even if you use polipo, you should set your socks proxy so
you will capture protocols that aren't even configurable on the proxy
config page.

Hope that helps,
--Roger