use IO::Socket::INET;
use MIME::Base64 ();

$pass64 = MIME::Base64::encode_base64("$username:$password");

my $sock;
unless ($sock = new IO::Socket::INET (PeerAddr => $host, PeerPort => $port, Proto => 'tcp', Timeout => 5)) {
    $errormessage = $tr{'could not connect to http://$host:$port/$filename'};
    return '0';
}

$sock->print("GET /".$filename." HTTP/1.0\r\n");
$sock->print("Host: $host\r\n");
$sock->print("Authorization: Basic $pass64\r\n");
$sock->print("\r\n");

while (<$sock>) {
    printf $_;
}

close($sock);