[vlc-devel] [PATCH] This patch adds an --http-add-head-string (additional header string) option to vlc

[Rémi Denis-Courmont]

On Sun, 01 Aug 2010 20:57:04 +0200, Maximilian Podany <m.podany at art-est.at>
wrote:
> You could use it to add an arbitrary string to the
> HTTP-GET-request-header. For example a referer string like "Referer:
> http://www.example.com".

If you really want to fix that, you need to get the referer from the
browser (I don't know how that's done), and pass it. I am not convinced
that yet another obscure command line option solves the problem.

>  I noticed that if I use a vlc-firefox-plugin to play divx-streams it
> doesn't work on some servers.
>  After some research (wireshark and telnet ;-) I noticed that the
> divx-webplayer sends an referer string in the HTTP-GET-request-header
> and without the referer the server responds with "Moved Permanently".
>  So with this option you could use vlc to spoof a divx-webplayer (with
> user-agent changes).
>  But because you can define the whole header-line with this option, you
> could add every string you like.

Anything you like strikes me as a particularly bad idea. You can break the
HTTP protocol in so many ways. If you want to pass a referer, then pass a
referer, not an arbitrary string.

-- 
Rémi Denis-Courmont
http://www.remlab.net
http://fi.linkedin.com/in/remidenis