*** (httputil) major rework, new caching implementation, unified request

     processing
+    (httputil) post support, partial request support, other features
-    (httputil) removed partial_body() and get_cached() [merged into get()]
*    (plugins/, utils) minimal changes to accomodate for the new http_utils
*    (utils, ircbot) moved utils initialization into utils.rb
*    (tube.rb) (partially) accomodate for upstream site layout changes

18 files changed, 173 insertions, 175 deletions

diff --git a/data/rbot/plugins/bash.rb b/data/rbot/plugins/bash.rb
index 6f954a16..2a5bedad 100644
--- a/data/rbot/plugins/bash.rb
+++ b/data/rbot/plugins/bash.rb
@@ -25,11 +25,12 @@ class BashPlugin < Plugin
   def bash(m, id=0)
 
 	if(id != 0)
-    	xml = @bot.httputil.get URI.parse("http://bash.org/xml/?" + id + "&num=1")
+    	xml = @bot.httputil.get("http://bash.org/xml/?" + id + "&num=1")
 	elsif(id == "latest")
-    	xml = @bot.httputil.get URI.parse("http://bash.org/xml/?latest&num=1")
+    	xml = @bot.httputil.get("http://bash.org/xml/?latest&num=1")
 	else
-    	xml = @bot.httputil.get URI.parse("http://bash.org/xml/?random&num=1")
+    	xml = @bot.httputil.get("http://bash.org/xml/?random&num=1",
+                                :cache => false)
 	end	
     unless xml
       m.reply "bash.org rss parse failed"
diff --git a/data/rbot/plugins/dict.rb b/data/rbot/plugins/dict.rb
index 504a9d7b..d486e97b 100644
--- a/data/rbot/plugins/dict.rb
+++ b/data/rbot/plugins/dict.rb
@@ -57,9 +57,10 @@ class DictPlugin < Plugin
 

     word = params[:word].downcase

     url = @dmwapurl % URI.escape(word)

-    xml = @bot.httputil.get_cached(url)

+    xml = nil

+    info = @bot.httputil.get_response(url) rescue nil

+    xml = info.body if info

     if xml.nil?

-      info = @bot.httputil.last_response

       info = info ? " (#{info.code} - #{info.message})" : ""

       return false if justcheck

       m.reply "An error occurred while looking for #{word}#{info}"

@@ -108,7 +109,7 @@ class DictPlugin < Plugin
     word = params[:word].join

     [word, word + "_1"].each { |check|

       url = @oxurl % URI.escape(check)

-      h = @bot.httputil.head(url)

+      h = @bot.httputil.head(url, :max_redir => 5)

       if h

         m.reply("#{word} found: #{url}") unless justcheck

         return true

@@ -128,10 +129,11 @@ class DictPlugin < Plugin
 

     word = params[:word].to_s.downcase

     url = @chambersurl % URI.escape(word)

-    xml = @bot.httputil.get_cached(url)

+    xml = nil

+    info = @bot.httputil.get_response(url) rescue nil

+    xml = info.body if info

     case xml

     when nil

-      info = @bot.httputil.last_response

       info = info ? " (#{info.code} - #{info.message})" : ""

       return false if justcheck

       m.reply "An error occurred while looking for #{word}#{info}"

diff --git a/data/rbot/plugins/digg.rb b/data/rbot/plugins/digg.rb
index 43b7c9f5..dc2e41cf 100644
--- a/data/rbot/plugins/digg.rb
+++ b/data/rbot/plugins/digg.rb
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ class DiggPlugin < Plugin
   def digg(m, params)
     max = params[:limit].to_i
     debug "max is #{max}"
-    xml = @bot.httputil.get_cached(URI.parse("http://digg.com/rss/index.xml"))
+    xml = @bot.httputil.get('http://digg.com/rss/index.xml')
     unless xml
       m.reply "digg news parse failed"
       return
diff --git a/data/rbot/plugins/fish.rb b/data/rbot/plugins/fish.rb
index 8c115f90..d7dda52b 100644
--- a/data/rbot/plugins/fish.rb
+++ b/data/rbot/plugins/fish.rb
@@ -30,39 +30,40 @@ class BabelPlugin < Plugin
       return
     end
 
-    http = @bot.httputil.get_proxy(URI.parse("http://babelfish.altavista.com"))
-
     headers = {
-      "content-type" => "application/x-www-form-urlencoded; charset=utf-8",
-      'accept-charset' => 'utf-8'
+      "content-type" => "application/x-www-form-urlencoded; charset=utf-8"
     }
 
-    http.start {|http|
-      resp = http.post(query, data, headers)
-  
-  if (resp.code == "200")
-    lines = Array.new
-    resp.body.each_line do |l|
-      lines.push l
+    begin
+      resp = @bot.httputil.get_response('http://babelfish.altavista.com'+query,
+                                        :method => :post,
+                                        :body => data,
+                                        :headers => headers)
+    rescue Exception => e
+      m.reply "http error: #{e.message}"
+      return
     end
 
-    l = lines.join(" ")
-    debug "babelfish response: #{l}"
+    if (resp.code == "200")
+      lines = Array.new
+      resp.body.each_line { |l| lines.push l }
+
+      l = lines.join(" ")
+      debug "babelfish response: #{l}"
 
-    if(l =~ /^\s+<td bgcolor=white class=s><div style=padding:10px;>(.*)<\/div>/)
-      answer = $1
-      # cache the answer
-      if(answer.length > 0)
-        @registry["#{trans_pair}/#{data_text}"] = answer
+      if(l =~ /^\s+<td bgcolor=white class=s><div style=padding:10px;>(.*)<\/div>/)
+        answer = $1
+        # cache the answer
+        if(answer.length > 0)
+          @registry["#{trans_pair}/#{data_text}"] = answer
+        end
+        m.reply answer
+        return
       end
-      m.reply answer
-      return
+      m.reply "couldn't parse babelfish response html :("
+    else
+      m.reply "couldn't talk to babelfish :("
     end
-    m.reply "couldn't parse babelfish response html :("
-  else
-    m.reply "couldn't talk to babelfish :("
-  end
-  }
   end
 end
 plugin = BabelPlugin.new
diff --git a/data/rbot/plugins/freshmeat.rb b/data/rbot/plugins/freshmeat.rb
index c8f529cb..5a045123 100644
--- a/data/rbot/plugins/freshmeat.rb
+++ b/data/rbot/plugins/freshmeat.rb
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ class FreshmeatPlugin < Plugin
     search = params[:search].to_s
     max = 8 if max > 8
     begin
-      xml = @bot.httputil.get_cached(URI.parse("http://freshmeat.net/search-xml/?orderby=locate_projectname_full_DESC&q=#{URI.escape(search)}"))
+      xml = @bot.httputil.get("http://freshmeat.net/search-xml/?orderby=locate_projectname_full_DESC&q=#{URI.escape(search)}")
     rescue URI::InvalidURIError, URI::BadURIError => e
       m.reply "illegal search string #{search}"
       return
@@ -59,7 +59,7 @@ class FreshmeatPlugin < Plugin
     max = params[:limit].to_i
     max = 8 if max > 8
     begin
-      xml = @bot.httputil.get(URI.parse("http://images.feedstermedia.com/feedcache/ostg/freshmeat/fm-releases-global.xml"))
+      xml = @bot.httputil.get('http://images.feedstermedia.com/feedcache/ostg/freshmeat/fm-releases-global.xml')
       unless xml
         m.reply "freshmeat news parse failed"
         return
diff --git a/data/rbot/plugins/games/azgame.rb b/data/rbot/plugins/games/azgame.rb
index a6979830..f62232c0 100644
--- a/data/rbot/plugins/games/azgame.rb
+++ b/data/rbot/plugins/games/azgame.rb
@@ -351,7 +351,7 @@ class AzGamePlugin < Plugin
     wc = @wordcache[:italian]

     return true if wc.key?(word.to_sym)

     rules = @rules[:italian]

-    p = @bot.httputil.get_cached(rules[:wapurl] % word)

+    p = @bot.httputil.get(rules[:wapurl] % word)

     if not p

       error "could not connect!"

       return false

@@ -404,11 +404,11 @@ class AzGamePlugin < Plugin
         l = ('a'..'z').to_a[rand(26)]

         debug "getting random word from dictionary, starting with letter #{l}"

         first = rules[:url] % "lettera_#{l}_0_50"

-        p = @bot.httputil.get_cached(first)

+        p = @bot.httputil.get(first)

         max_page = p.match(/ \/ (\d+)<\/label>/)[1].to_i

         pp = rand(max_page)+1

         debug "getting random word from dictionary, starting with letter #{l}, page #{pp}"

-        p = @bot.httputil.get_cached(first+"&pagina=#{pp}") if pp > 1

+        p = @bot.httputil.get(first+"&pagina=#{pp}") if pp > 1

         lemmi = Array.new

         good = rules[:good]

         bad =  rules[:bad]

@@ -446,7 +446,7 @@ class AzGamePlugin < Plugin
     wc = @wordcache[:english]

     return true if wc.key?(word.to_sym)

     rules = @rules[:english]

-    p = @bot.httputil.get_cached(rules[:url] % URI.escape(word))

+    p = @bot.httputil.get(rules[:url] % URI.escape(word))

     if not p

       error "could not connect!"

       return false

@@ -497,7 +497,7 @@ class AzGamePlugin < Plugin
         ll = ('a'..'z').to_a[rand(26)]

         random = [l,ll].join('*') + '*'

         debug "getting random word from dictionary, matching #{random}"

-        p = @bot.httputil.get_cached(rules[:url] % URI.escape(random))

+        p = @bot.httputil.get(rules[:url] % URI.escape(random))

         debug p

         lemmi = Array.new

         good = rules[:good]

diff --git a/data/rbot/plugins/games/quiz.rb b/data/rbot/plugins/games/quiz.rb
index 63383262..56b1bca6 100644
--- a/data/rbot/plugins/games/quiz.rb
+++ b/data/rbot/plugins/games/quiz.rb
@@ -203,7 +203,7 @@ class QuizPlugin < Plugin
       if p =~ /^https?:\/\//
         # Wiki data
         begin
-          serverdata = @bot.httputil.get_cached( URI.parse( p ) ) # "http://amarok.kde.org/amarokwiki/index.php/Rbot_Quiz"
+          serverdata = @bot.httputil.get(p) # "http://amarok.kde.org/amarokwiki/index.php/Rbot_Quiz"
           serverdata = serverdata.split( "QUIZ DATA START\n" )[1]
           serverdata = serverdata.split( "\nQUIZ DATA END" )[0]
           serverdata = serverdata.gsub( /&nbsp;/, " " ).gsub( /&amp;/, "&" ).gsub( /&quot;/, "\"" )
diff --git a/data/rbot/plugins/grouphug.rb b/data/rbot/plugins/grouphug.rb
index 75093665..15735b9f 100644
--- a/data/rbot/plugins/grouphug.rb
+++ b/data/rbot/plugins/grouphug.rb
@@ -13,10 +13,15 @@ class GrouphugPlugin < Plugin
   end
 
   def confess(m, params)
+    opts = { :cache => false }
     path = "random"
-    path = "confessions/#{params[:num]}" if params[:num]
+    if params[:num]
+      path = "confessions/#{params[:num]}"
+      opts.delete(:cache)
+    end
+
     begin
-      data = @bot.httputil.get_cached(URI.parse("http://grouphug.us/#{path}"))
+      data = @bot.httputil.get("http://grouphug.us/#{path}", opts)
 
       reg = Regexp.new( '(<td class="conf-text")(.*?)(<p>)(.*?)(</p>)', Regexp::MULTILINE )
       confession = reg.match( data )[4].ircify_html
diff --git a/data/rbot/plugins/imdb.rb b/data/rbot/plugins/imdb.rb
index 5e4cc65a..cfadd3c8 100644
--- a/data/rbot/plugins/imdb.rb
+++ b/data/rbot/plugins/imdb.rb
@@ -21,16 +21,16 @@ class Imdb
 
   def search(rawstr)
     str = URI.escape(rawstr)
-    @http = @bot.httputil.get_proxy(URI.parse("http://us.imdb.com/find?q=#{str}"))
-    @http.start
+    resp = nil
     begin
-    resp, data = @http.get("/find?q=#{str}", @bot.httputil.headers)
-    rescue Net::ProtoRetriableError => detail
-      head = detail.data
-      if head.code == "301" or head.code == "302"
-            return head['location'].gsub(/http:\/\/us.imdb.com/, "").gsub(/\?.*/, "")
-        end
+      resp = @bot.httputil.get_response("http://us.imdb.com/find?q=#{str}",
+                                        :max_redir => -1)
+    rescue Exception => e
+      error e.message
+      warning e.backtrace.join("\n")
+      return nil
     end
+
     if resp.code == "200"
       m = /<a href="(\/title\/tt[0-9]+\/?)[^"]*"(?:[^>]*)>([^<]*)<\/a>/.match(resp.body)
       if m
@@ -50,7 +50,16 @@ class Imdb
       debug "IMDB: search returned NIL"
       return nil
     end
-    resp, data = @http.get(sr, @bot.httputil.headers)
+    resp = nil
+    begin
+      resp = @bot.httputil.get_response('http://us.imdb.com' + sr,
+                                        :max_redir => -1)
+    rescue Exception => e
+      error e.message
+      warning e.backtrace.join("\n")
+      return nil
+    end
+
     if resp.code == "200"
       m = /<title>([^<]*)<\/title>/.match(resp.body)
       return nil if !m
diff --git a/data/rbot/plugins/rss.rb b/data/rbot/plugins/rss.rb
index 15b121b7..68a5271b 100644
--- a/data/rbot/plugins/rss.rb
+++ b/data/rbot/plugins/rss.rb
@@ -654,7 +654,9 @@ class RSSFeedsPlugin < Plugin
   def fetchRss(feed, m=nil)

     begin

       # Use 60 sec timeout, cause the default is too low

-      xml = @bot.httputil.get_cached(feed.url, 60, 60)

+      xml = @bot.httputil.get(feed.url,

+                              :read_timeout => 60,

+                              :open_timeout => 60)

     rescue URI::InvalidURIError, URI::BadURIError => e

       report_problem("invalid rss feed #{feed.url}", e, m)

       return nil

diff --git a/data/rbot/plugins/search.rb b/data/rbot/plugins/search.rb
index 221071cb..1884b38a 100644
--- a/data/rbot/plugins/search.rb
+++ b/data/rbot/plugins/search.rb
@@ -62,7 +62,7 @@ class SearchPlugin < Plugin
     hits = params[:hits] || @bot.config['google.hits']
 
     begin
-      wml = @bot.httputil.get_cached(url)
+      wml = @bot.httputil.get(url)
     rescue => e
       m.reply "error googling for #{what}"
       return
diff --git a/data/rbot/plugins/slashdot.rb b/data/rbot/plugins/slashdot.rb
index ef96a4b0..fa1338bd 100644
--- a/data/rbot/plugins/slashdot.rb
+++ b/data/rbot/plugins/slashdot.rb
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ class SlashdotPlugin < Plugin
    search = params[:search].to_s
 
     begin
-      xml = @bot.httputil.get_cached(URI.parse("http://slashdot.org/search.pl?content_type=rss&query=#{URI.escape(search)}"))
+      xml = @bot.httputil.get("http://slashdot.org/search.pl?content_type=rss&query=#{URI.escape(search)}")
     rescue URI::InvalidURIError, URI::BadURIError => e
       m.reply "illegal search string #{search}"
       return
@@ -53,7 +53,7 @@ class SlashdotPlugin < Plugin
     debug params.inspect
     max = params[:limit].to_i
     debug "max is #{max}"
-    xml = @bot.httputil.get_cached(URI.parse("http://slashdot.org/slashdot.xml"))
+    xml = @bot.httputil.get('http://slashdot.org/slashdot.xml')
     unless xml
       m.reply "slashdot news parse failed"
       return
diff --git a/data/rbot/plugins/threat.rb b/data/rbot/plugins/threat.rb
index bcfc8698..dacd1058 100644
--- a/data/rbot/plugins/threat.rb
+++ b/data/rbot/plugins/threat.rb
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ class ThreatPlugin < Plugin
     green = "\x0303" # low
     black = "\x0301" # default
 
-    page = @bot.httputil.get_cached("http://www.dhs.gov/index.shtm")
+    page = @bot.httputil.get("http://www.dhs.gov/index.shtm")
 
     if page =~ /\"Current National Threat Level is (.*?)\"/
       state = $1
diff --git a/data/rbot/plugins/tube.rb b/data/rbot/plugins/tube.rb
index 0a9feb2f..16562274 100644
--- a/data/rbot/plugins/tube.rb
+++ b/data/rbot/plugins/tube.rb
@@ -7,56 +7,48 @@ require 'uri/common'
 class TubePlugin < Plugin
   include REXML
   def help(plugin, topic="")
-  "tube [district|circle|metropolitan|central|jubilee|bakerloo|waterloo_city|hammersmith_city|victoria|eastlondon|northern|piccadilly] => display tube service status for the specified line(Docklands Light Railway is not currently supported), tube stations => list tube stations (not lines) with problems"
+  "tube [district|circle|metropolitan|central|jubilee|bakerloo|waterlooandcity|hammersmithandcity|victoria|eastlondon|northern|piccadilly] => display tube service status for the specified line(Docklands Light Railway is not currently supported)" # , tube stations => list tube stations (not lines) with problems"
   end
   
   def tube(m, params)
     line = params[:line]
-  begin
-    tube_page = @bot.httputil.get_cached(URI.parse("http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/service_rt_tube.shtml"), 1, 1)
-  rescue URI::InvalidURIError, URI::BadURIError => e
-    m.reply "Cannot contact Tube Service Status page"
-    return
-  end
-  unless tube_page
-    m.reply "Cannot contact Tube Service Status page"
-    return
-  end
-  next_line = false
-  tube_page.each_line {|l|
-    next if l == "\r\n"
-    next if l == "\n"
-    if (next_line)
-      if (l =~ /^<tr valign=top> <td>\s*(.*)<\/td><\/tr>/i)
-        m.reply $1.split(/<[^>]+>|&nbsp;/i).join(" ")
-        return
-      else
-        m.reply "There are problems on the #{line} line, but I didn't understand the page format. You should check out http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/service_rt_tube.shtml for more details."
-        return
-      end
+    tube_page = @bot.httputil.get('http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/livetravelnews/realtime/tube/default.html')
+    unless tube_page
+      m.reply "Cannot contact Tube Service Status page"
+      return
     end
-    next_line = true if (l =~ /class="#{line}"/i)
+    next_line = false
+    tube_page.each_line {|l|
+      next if l == "\r\n"
+      next if l == "\n"
+      if (next_line)
+        if (l =~ /^<p>\s*(.*)<\/p>/i)
+          m.reply $1.split(/<[^>]+>|&nbsp;/i).join(" ")
+          return
+        elsif l =~ /ul|h3|"message"/
+          next
+        else
+          m.reply "There are problems on the #{line} line, but I didn't understand the page format. You should check out http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/livetravelnews/realtime/tube/default.html for more details."
+          return
+        end
+      end
+      next_line = true if (l =~ /li class="#{line}"/i)
     }
-  m.reply "No Problems on the #{line} line."
+    m.reply "No Problems on the #{line} line."
   end
 
   def check_stations(m, params)
-    begin
-      tube_page = @bot.httputil.get_cached(URI.parse("http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/service_rt_tube.shtml"))
-    rescue URI::InvalidURIError, URI::BadURIError => e
-      m.reply "Cannot contact Tube Service Status page"
-      return
-    end
+    tube_page = @bot.httputil.get('http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/service_rt_tube.shtml')
     unless tube_page
       m.reply "Cannot contact Tube Service Status page"
       return
     end
     stations_array = Array.new
     tube_page.each_line {|l|
-        if (l =~ /<tr valign=top> <td valign="middle" class="Station"><b>(.*)<\/b><\/td><\/tr>\s*/i)
-          stations_array.push $1
-        end
-        }
+      if (l =~ /<tr valign=top> <td valign="middle" class="Station"><b>(.*)<\/b><\/td><\/tr>\s*/i)
+        stations_array.push $1
+      end
+    }
     if stations_array.empty? 
       m.reply "There are no station-specific announcements"
       return
@@ -67,5 +59,5 @@ class TubePlugin < Plugin
   end
 end
 plugin = TubePlugin.new
-plugin.map 'tube stations', :action => 'check_stations'
+# plugin.map 'tube stations', :action => 'check_stations'
 plugin.map 'tube :line'
diff --git a/data/rbot/plugins/urban.rb b/data/rbot/plugins/urban.rb
index c77a2e45..0b75febe 100644
--- a/data/rbot/plugins/urban.rb
+++ b/data/rbot/plugins/urban.rb
@@ -11,14 +11,15 @@ class UrbanPlugin < Plugin
     n = params[:n].nil? ? 1 : params[:n].to_i rescue 1
 
     if words.empty?
-      uri = URI.parse( "http://www.urbandictionary.com/random.php" )
-      @bot.httputil.head(uri) { |redir|
-        words = URI.unescape(redir.match(/define.php\?term=(.*)$/)[1]) rescue nil
-      }
+      resp = @bot.httputil.head('http://www.urbandictionary.com/random.php',
+                               :max_redir => -1)
+      if resp.code == "302" && (loc = resp['location'])
+        words = URI.unescape(loc.match(/define.php\?term=(.*)$/)[1]) rescue nil
+      end
     end
     # we give a very high 'skip' because this will allow us to get the number of definitions by retrieving the previous definition
-    uri = URI.parse("http://www.urbanwap.com/search.php?term=#{URI.escape words}&skip=65536")
-    page = @bot.httputil.get_cached(uri)
+    uri = "http://www.urbanwap.com/search.php?term=#{URI.escape words}&skip=65536"
+    page = @bot.httputil.get(uri)
     if page.nil?
       m.reply "Couldn't retrieve an urban dictionary definition of #{words}"
       return
@@ -38,8 +39,8 @@ class UrbanPlugin < Plugin
       n = numdefs
     end
     if n < numdefs
-      uri = URI.parse("http://www.urbanwap.com/search.php?term=#{URI.escape words}&skip=#{n-1}")
-      page = @bot.httputil.get_cached(uri)
+      uri = "http://www.urbanwap.com/search.php?term=#{URI.escape words}&skip=#{n-1}"
+      page = @bot.httputil.get(uri)
       if page.nil?
         case n % 10
         when 1
@@ -77,7 +78,7 @@ class UrbanPlugin < Plugin
   end
 
   def uotd(m, params)
-    home = @bot.httputil.get_cached("http://www.urbanwap.com/")
+    home = @bot.httputil.get("http://www.urbanwap.com/")
     if home.nil?
       m.reply "Couldn't get the urban dictionary word of the day"
       return
@@ -85,7 +86,7 @@ class UrbanPlugin < Plugin
     home.match(/Word of the Day: <a href="(.*?)">.*?<\/a>/)
     wotd = $1
     debug "Urban word of the day: #{wotd}"
-    page = @bot.httputil.get_cached(wotd)
+    page = @bot.httputil.get(wotd)
     if page.nil?
       m.reply "Couldn't get the urban dictionary word of the day"
     else
diff --git a/data/rbot/plugins/url.rb b/data/rbot/plugins/url.rb
index 23a32638..95ccb5d9 100644
--- a/data/rbot/plugins/url.rb
+++ b/data/rbot/plugins/url.rb
@@ -40,59 +40,48 @@ class UrlPlugin < Plugin
     title = nil
 
     begin
-      @bot.httputil.get_response(url) { |response|
-        case response
-        when Net::HTTPSuccess
-          extra = String.new
-
-          if response['content-type'] =~ /^text\//
-
-            title = String.new
-
-            # since the content is 'text/*' and is small enough to
-            # be a webpage, retrieve the title from the page
-            debug "+ getting #{url.request_uri}"
-
-            # we act differently depending on whether we want the first par or not:
-            # in the first case we download the initial part and the parse it; in the second
-            # case we only download as much as we need to find the title
-            if @bot.config['url.first_par']
-              partial = response.partial_body(@bot.config['http.info_bytes'])
-              first_par = Utils.ircify_first_html_par(partial)
-              extra << "\n#{LINK_INFO} text: #{first_par}" unless first_par.empty?
-              title = get_title_from_html(partial)
-              if title
-                return "title: #{title}#{extra}"
-              end
-            else
-              response.partial_body(@bot.config['http.info_bytes']) { |part|
-                title = get_title_from_html(part)
-                return "title: #{title}" if title
-              }
-            end
-            # if nothing was found, provide more basic info
-          end
+      range = @bot.config['http.info_bytes']
+      response = @bot.httputil.get_response(url, :range => "bytes=0-#{range}")
+      if response.code != "206" && response.code != "200"
+        return "Error getting link (#{response.code} - #{response.message})"
+      end
+      extra = String.new
 
-          debug response.to_hash.inspect
-          unless @bot.config['url.titles_only']
-            # content doesn't have title, just display info.
-            size = response['content-length'].gsub(/(\d)(?=\d{3}+(?:\.|$))(\d{3}\..*)?/,'\1,\2') rescue nil
-            size = size ? ", size: #{size} bytes" : ""
-            return "type: #{response['content-type']}#{size}#{extra}"
-          end
-        when Net::HTTPResponse
-          return "Error getting link (#{response.code} - #{response.message})"
+      if response['content-type'] =~ /^text\//
+
+        body = response.body.slice(0, range)
+        title = String.new
+
+        # since the content is 'text/*' and is small enough to
+        # be a webpage, retrieve the title from the page
+        debug "+ getting #{url.request_uri}"
+
+        # we act differently depending on whether we want the first par or not:
+        # in the first case we download the initial part and the parse it; in the second
+        # case we only download as much as we need to find the title
+        if @bot.config['url.first_par']
+          first_par = Utils.ircify_first_html_par(body)
+          extra << "\n#{LINK_INFO} text: #{first_par}" unless first_par.empty?
+          title = get_title_from_html(body)
+          return "title: #{title}#{extra}" if title
         else
-          raise response
+          title = get_title_from_html(body)
+          return "title: #{title}" if title
         end
-      }
-    rescue Object => e
-      if e.class <= StandardError
-        error e.inspect
-        debug e.backtrace.join("\n")
+
+        # if nothing was found, provide more basic info
       end
 
-      msg = e.respond_to?(:message) ? e.message : e.to_s
+      debug response.to_hash.inspect
+      unless @bot.config['url.titles_only']
+        # content doesn't have title, just display info.
+        size = response['content-length'].gsub(/(\d)(?=\d{3}+(?:\.|$))(\d{3}\..*)?/,'\1,\2') rescue nil
+        size = size ? ", size: #{size} bytes" : ""
+        return "type: #{response['content-type']}#{size}#{extra}"
+      end
+    rescue Exception => e
+      error e.inspect
+      debug e.backtrace.join("\n")
       return "Error connecting to site (#{e.message})"
     end
   end
diff --git a/data/rbot/plugins/weather.rb b/data/rbot/plugins/weather.rb
index 88194e90..cdabf9c1 100644
--- a/data/rbot/plugins/weather.rb
+++ b/data/rbot/plugins/weather.rb
@@ -165,7 +165,7 @@ class WeatherPlugin < Plugin
 
   def wu_station(m, where, units)
     begin
-      xml = @bot.httputil.get_cached(@wu_station_url % [units, URI.escape(where)])
+      xml = @bot.httputil.get(@wu_station_url % [units, URI.escape(where)])
       case xml
       when nil
         m.reply "couldn't retrieve weather information, sorry"
@@ -187,7 +187,7 @@ class WeatherPlugin < Plugin
 
   def wu_weather(m, where, units)
     begin
-      xml = @bot.httputil.get_cached(@wu_url % [units, URI.escape(where)])
+      xml = @bot.httputil.get(@wu_url % [units, URI.escape(where)])
       case xml
       when nil
         m.reply "couldn't retrieve weather information, sorry"
diff --git a/data/rbot/plugins/wserver.rb b/data/rbot/plugins/wserver.rb
index 1baa0d90..fdb4207d 100644
--- a/data/rbot/plugins/wserver.rb
+++ b/data/rbot/plugins/wserver.rb
@@ -29,30 +29,26 @@ class WserverPlugin < Plugin
         return
       end
         
-      http = @bot.httputil.get_proxy(uri)
-      http.open_timeout = 5
       
-      http.start {|http|
-        resp = http.head('/')
-        server = resp['Server']
-        if(server && server.length > 0)
-          m.reply "#{uri.host} is running #{server}"
-        else
-          m.reply "couldn't tell what #{uri.host} is running"
-        end
-        
-        if(resp.code == "302" || resp.code == "301") 
-          newloc = resp['location']
-          newuri = URI.parse(newloc)
-          # detect and ignore incorrect redirects (to relative paths etc)
-          if (newuri.host != nil)
-            if(uri.host != newuri.host)
-              m.reply "#{uri.host} redirects to #{newuri.scheme}://#{newuri.host}"
-              raise resp['location']
-            end
+      resp = @bot.httputil.head(uri)
+      server = resp['Server']
+      if(server && server.length > 0)
+        m.reply "#{uri.host} is running #{server}"
+      else
+        m.reply "couldn't tell what #{uri.host} is running"
+      end
+
+      if(resp.code == "302" || resp.code == "301") 
+        newloc = resp['location']
+        newuri = URI.parse(newloc)
+        # detect and ignore incorrect redirects (to relative paths etc)
+        if (newuri.host != nil)
+          if(uri.host != newuri.host)
+            m.reply "#{uri.host} redirects to #{newuri.scheme}://#{newuri.host}"
+            raise resp['location']
           end
         end
-      }
+      end
     rescue TimeoutError => err
       m.reply "timed out connecting to #{uri.host}:#{uri.port} :("
       return