The macosxhints Forums - Downloading a URL to a Script variable (curl failing)

Quote:

Originally Posted by hayne

Another thing you can try (in Terminal) in order to rule out this being a problem specific to 'curl' is try connecting to port 80 using 'telnet'.
E.g.:
telnet www.apple.com 80

When I try this, it takes longer than it should (tens of seconds) but I do connect successfully - I see the following:
Trying 17.254.0.91...
Connected to www.apple.com.
Escape character is '^]'.

I get:

Code:

[ACB-G3:~] bellac% telnet www.apple.com 80

Trying 17.112.152.32...

Connected to eg-www.apple.com.

Escape character is '^]'.

Connection closed by foreign host.

But much more important, a program called Little Snitch asks for permission to connect! That and your Ghost hint are the clue: Little Snitch informs me when a program is "reaching out" and allows me to permit it once or forever, creating a filter if forever. When I tried the telnet above, it asked. When I try the curl it doesn't. When I turn Little Snitch off in its preference pane, curl works as it should. Strange but true.

Thanks, Hayne - you are astonishingly patient!