Meteor's HTTP package + extra options: proxy, cookies and more

http-more is a drop-in replacement for Meteor's standard HTTP package, backward-compatible with it, and enhanced to pass through extra options to the backend (@mikeal's request as of Meteor 0.8.0). It also passes back from request the final URL after following redirects, which will be available in the href field of the result object.

These modifications are very minimal - just 8 lines of code. Unfortuantely, the Meteor team refused to accept a pull request for this type of enhancement, hence the need for a separate package.

Features

All the extra features are available on the server only, because the underlying xhr object doesn't have any of the properties below.

• proxy support
• cookies to avoid getting stuck in redirect loops
• get the final URL after redirects
• pass TLS/SSL options
• customize maxRedirects
• ... and all the other request options

Why

Ever got an SSL error when doing an HTTP.get() call in Meteor, like UNABLE_TO_VERIFY_LEAF_SIGNATURE? That's because you need to pass a certain TLS option along with the request. No big deal, right, since Meteor's HTTP package uses mikeal's request Npm module? Wrong. The problem is you can't just pass extra options to request, because Meteor is opinionated and wants to

provide a consistent interface between client and server, so adding lots of server-only options doesn't seem look a good idea

...despite the fact that the server and client are essentially different, e.g. the client doesn't support redirects, or can run into CORS restrictions etc. Read more on the debate at Meteor issue #1703.

This is where http-more comes in. It lets you pass through to the underlying HTTP backend (or frontend) any options you want. Currently, the backend is mikeal's request module, so you can pass, for example, {rejectUnauthorized: false} to avoid that LEAF_SIGNATURE error, or {jar: true} to enable a session cookie jar.

Installation

1. meteor remove http
2. meteor add dandv:http-more

Contributing and tests

After cloning this repo, run ./build.sh to check out the latest Meteor and apply the patch. To run the tests, rename the cloned repo directory to http-more, and run in it meteor test-packages ..

http-more_tests.js includes:

• a test against a site that as of March 2014, generates that UNABLE_TO_VERIFY_LEAF_SIGNATURE error.
• a test against an NYTimes RSS feed that needs a cookie jar to redirect properly - request issue #865

More tests, against other request options, are very welcome.

How it works

The repo includes meteor/meteor as a submodule, then patches only 7 lines in httpcall_server.js. There's another one-line patch in httpcall_tests.js due to repackaging the files. That's it.

Hopefully the Meteor team will fold this patch into the core, even as an undocumented option.

License

Author: Dan Dascalescu (@dandv)

Development initially sponsored by StockBase, LLC.

The MIT License (MIT)

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.