htaccess type authorization with WWW::Mechanize

davido has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

I've read the POD for WWW::Mechanize, and done a bit of searching and reading here at the Monastery, but haven't been able to come up with a solution to what I believe is probably a pretty simple question.

I want to log in to an htaccess-protected site via WWW::Mechanize. As an example of such a site I have been trying to log in to my router's configuration page. Here is a simple example script, which isn't successful:

use strict;
use warnings;

use WWW::Mechanize;


my $agent = WWW::Mechanize->new( autocheck => 1 );

$agent->credentials( 'www.routerlogin.com', 'WGR614v4', 
                     'user', 'password' );

$agent->get( 'http://www.routerlogin.com/s_status.htm' );

print $agent->content();
[download]

The output is:

Error GETing http://www.routerlogin.com/s_status.htm:
Unauthorized at mytest.pl line 14
[download]

Note: The URL I'm using is automatically trapped by my router and associated with the router's configuration screen. I could also have just used the router's local IP address of 192.168......etc.

I know this can't be that difficult. After all, WWW::Mechanize is a proper subclass of LWP::UserAgent, but I just can't seem to quite get it right. Any suggestions or pointers to a good discussion on the topic would be greatly appreciated.

Dave

Comment on htaccess type authorization with WWW::Mechanize Select or Download Code

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Re: htaccess type authorization with WWW::Mechanize by bart (Canon) on Dec 13, 2004 at 10:00 UTC
`$agent->credentials( 'www.routerlogin.com', 'WGR614v4', 'user', 'password' );` [download] That's a weird realm (the second parameter). The "realm" is the info text that appears in the dialog box when you try to log in with a browser. I don't know how exact a fit the text you enter must be. I sincerely doubt that the text would ever be "WGR614v4". update: Even with the proper values filled in, it doesn't work for me. And yes, judging by the looks of examining the `$agent` with Data::Dumper, setting the credentials must have worked. update: Got it! You need a port number for the `$netloc`. Append a ":80" to the domain name, the first parameter, and authentication works. You still appear to need an exact realm, though. Leaving it blank, or otherwise filling in a partly matching string, just doesn't work. `$agent->credentials( 'www.routerlogin.com:80', 'WGR614v4', 'user', 'password' );` [download]	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re^2: htaccess type authorization with WWW::Mechanize by davis (Vicar) on Dec 13, 2004 at 10:59 UTC
I sincerely doubt that the text would ever be "WGR614v4". It probably is if you're logging in to a particular Netgear router. davis It wasn't easy to juggle a pregnant wife and a troubled child, but somehow I managed to fit in eight hours of TV a day.	[reply]
Re^2: htaccess type authorization with WWW::Mechanize by davido (Cardinal) on Dec 13, 2004 at 16:31 UTC
bart, You got it right in your final update. It appears that, as you suggested, I needed the port number. When I added that to the URL it began working just fine. I knew it had to be something simple that I just wasn't seeing. Little did I know how simple it would turn out to be. Thanks! Dave	[reply]
Re: htaccess type authorization with WWW::Mechanize by sasikumar (Monk) on Dec 13, 2004 at 09:19 UTC
Hi I am not familiar with these modules. Please look at this module and try this one. `http://search.cpan.org/~corion/WWW-Mechanize-Shell-0.34/lib/WWW/Mechan +ize/Shell.pm` [download] This could also help `http://httpd.apache.org/docs/howto/auth.html#basicworks` [download] This can help you. Thanks Sasi Kumar	[reply] [d/l] [select]


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