Safari 3.x (Leopard) and Web Proxy Server Problems:

Question

I have a Squid proxy server running on Linux. Users web traffic is directed through it via WPAD server which hosts a simple PAC file. The PAC files is very clean and small. It basically points all external (Internet) web traffic to our Proxy server. All of our Windows, Linux and Tiger clients work fine. However, Leopard (Safari 3.x) doesn't work quite right. Here's what happens:
Mac user logs into a Leopard 10.5 Mac. User launches Safari and tries to go to an external (Internet) site. The WPAD server is contacted and the Mac User is prompted to authenticate to the Proxy server. This is totally normal behavior thus far. Then, however, every few minutes the Leopard Mac user will be prompted to authenticate again (sometimes 2 or 3 times in a row!). Firefox 2.0.x, when configured to use the WPAD/PAC server and Proxy server, works fine in Leopard. Only Safari 3 in Leopard is having the problem.
All the Macs (Tiger and Leopard) are configured to use the Proxy server via OS X's Network Pref Pane (using the "Automatic Proxy Configuaration"). Reminder: Tiger works fine (even with the Safari betas), but Leopard's doesnt not.
I have attached our PAC file inline below (some things edited for privacy):
// SIMR automatic configuration for Mozilla and friends
// $Id: wpad.dat,v 1.8 2005/12/14 20:18:23 dct Exp $
// Edit carefully, since many may be relying on this...
function FindProxyForURL(url, host) {
// Bypass the proxy for internal addresses
if (!url.match("http:")
|| url.match("http://127.0.")
|| url.match("http://10.")
|| url.match("http://192.168.")
|| isPlainHostName(host)
return "DIRECT";
// These are exceptions given in the IE config for Windows.
if (host == "www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov"
|| host == "chabry.caltech.edu"
|| host == "flybase.bio.indiana.edu"
|| host == "www.fedex.com"
|| host == "domain.org"
return "DIRECT";
return "PROXY <proxy server>:8080";
}

Answer 1

I think I have a similar problem. I am a Mac connecting to an otherwise all PC school network.
A new location with all correct proxies has been set up. However, Safari always crashes on first attempt to negotiate its way through our server to the internet. Internet explorer gets through because in its preferences it is possible to include the name of the school domain as well as my user name and password.
We have been unable to find any way of including the domain name into Location in Network or into Safari.
However, once Internet Explorer has negotiated with the server I can launch Safari and it works as normal.
Safari/Network seems to lack this option of including a domain name that my PC server requires.
Make sense to anyone?
Worth mentioning that my copy of Internet Explorer (5.2) often crashes, but usually it has done its job by then. I quite like the concept of Internet Explorer sacrificing itself to clear a path for Safari.