Squid

Anyone for Squid?

Squid (latest is 3.0+) is the underlying code base for many proxy servers on different platforms. An interesting version that may be run on Mac OS X 10.4+ is Squidman 2.0 which is Squid 2.6 with a reasonable GUI (not great but functional). It has not been updated recently. This one requires hooking into the command line interface for AppleScript access. But that is possible.

"Squid is a high-performance proxy caching server for web clients, supporting FTP, gopher, and HTTP data objects. Unlike traditional caching software, Squid handles all requests in a single, non-blocking, I/O-driven process. Squid keeps meta data and especially hot objects cached in RAM, caches DNS lookups, supports non-blocking DNS lookups, and implements negative caching of failed requests"- so it says at the Darwin Ports site. No argument there. For another version try Darwin Ports Squid vers 2.7stable5. Squid Manager 1.2 is a Mac GUI front end to Squid that makes it easy to start/ stop squid and manage configuration including rotation of log files. Squid Manager does not appear to have been updated recently.

The documentation makes for excellent bedtime reading- many times over. The documentation also gives you a glimpse into the possible amazing behaviour of those proxy servers that just don't seem to get it right for some reason. Configuring Squid properly requires a degree in unravelling tautologies, but when it is working properly Squid can speed up your internet access considerably. Some people even run a squid proxy on their local machines. It's fascinating to think of all those little (and big) squids linking tentacles all over the world; and what a symphony they make. The internet would be a much duller place without them. Well worth a sideways glance.