HTTP Authentication

[Jonathan Lumb]

Feature request: currently Vocal is unable to download content from feeds which require HTTP authentication.

I use some pay-for podcast services which require a username and password to view content. Vocal is able to parse the publicly accessible feed for these podcasts and will list new episodes, but when I try to play or download them nothing happens (as you would expect). This is because HTTP authentication is required in order to download any content from the server.

An example of such a feed is http://feed.overseakids.com/qiangqiang3_hd.xml (unfortunately I can't provide my username and password for testing)

It would be great if HTTP authentication could be added to a later version of Vocal - ideally users would be prompted for their username and password when they first try to download content, then Vocal would remember those details for any subsequent downloads. I believe there are many other podcast users out there who use this feature regularly in other clients.

For examples of how this has been implemented elsewhere, developers could look to podcast clients on Android (BeyondPod) and on Linux (gPodder), both of which provide HTTP/FTP authentication functionality.

I understand that this may not be a priority as there are probably other aspects of the application which need smoothing out first - but I would be willing to offer a bounty or donation if this feature could be added - others might also join me.

[Bastien Nocera (hadess-deactivatedaccount)]

See bvw_check_missing_auth() in src/backend/bacon-video-widget.c in Totem for an example of doing that with GStreamer, using the stock GTK+ password window.