JSP bug? url.openStream() = server redirected too many times

Question

I tried something the other day that works in Java, so it should work as a JSP scriptlet, but I received an error message that others have posted elsewhere without a compete resolution. Specifically, given a URL, say u, one ought to be able to do u.openStream() and eventually read the remote page. Typically, one might want to try
URL u = new URL("http://someserver.com/path/file.xxx")
BufferedReader bfr = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(u.openStream()))and then read bfr line-by-line. The problem that seems to be fairly common is that the openStream() call throws a ProtocolException claiming "server redirected too many times (20), ."
What I've seen is that this exception occurs whenever the URL is outside the Tomcat server whence the call is being made; in our case, we're running "out-of-the-box" Jakarta Tomcat 4.1.29 on port 8080 of a w2k server. The code works perfectly in native Java and in JSP for a URL of the form "/anotherpage.jsp"
Is this a bug in JSP, or in our version of Tomcat, or is there just some configuration parameter that needs to be changed from its default? As I said, I've seen similar posts (with less detailed analysis) in the Usenet newsgroups, but not one has generated a response that explains and resolves the matter.
Perhaps a JSP guru out there could set the record straight? Thanks.
P.S. I know that the use of scriptlets in JSP is being discouraged, but they are still supported AFAIK.

Answer 1

Sure scriptlets are still supported. Most times though you can do things better with a custom tag. Why reinvent the wheel?
Just as a suggestion, you might try the JSTL <c:import> tag.
It basically does just this behind the scenes.
However I don't think that will help you in the end - it will probably hit the same error message.
My guess would be that the problem is not caused by java/JSP as such, but by a firewall, or configuration somewhere.
The following works fine for me (ignoring broken images of course)
<%@ page import="java.net.*, java.io.*" %>
<%
URL u = new URL("http://www.google.com");
BufferedReader bfr = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(u.openStream()));
String line = null;
while ((line = bfr.readLine()) != null){
  out.println(line);
%>Hope this helps,
evnafets