Comment 13 for bug 105415

There is something more about proxy configuration and installing software through (at least) synaptic:
I used to have a direct connection to Internet, so I didn't need a proxy configuration :)
But... some minutes ago I moved (along with my laptop) to a private network. I reinstalled my Hardy (Ubuntu) system and tried to install msttcorefonts package. Of course, I couldn't: I needed to configure my proxy settings in order to get those required *.exe files from Internet (yes, my Ubuntu repository is local). I did, and I tried again, but something went wrong: I did set the right authentication, however, I got a '407 Authentication Required' response. "Odd, ...but it's ok, I will try again, now with the global proxy settings setted" ...and then, the same result. I tried any combination between global network proxy settings and synaptic proxy settings (direct connection and proper proxy configuration), but always the same behavior: '407 Authentication Required'. I gave up. I just thought "enough, I just want those fonts installed right now", and then I ssh-ed to a NAT-ed pc, and I wget-ed the whole list of *.exe files needed to get msttcorefonts package installed (I found the *.exe files needed inspecting into the .deb file). Once I got those files, I copied them to my laptop into /var/www/sourceforge/corefonts and set "127.0.0.1 surfnet.dl.sourceforge.net" into /etc/hosts in order to get those *.exe files fetched from localhost. I thought it will be enough, but I was wrong: synaptic still was using my previous proxy settings to download those files!! Unbelievable. I tried aptitude, apt-get, but nothing new. I looked for 'proxy' on ~/ (grep -ri proxy ~/) but nothing. I even did it for /etc (grep -ri proxy /etc/) and nothing. Odd, really odd. When I almost gave up, I got a new idea: cache. I looked into /var/cache/debconf/config.dat and I found this:

Name: msttcorefonts/http_proxy
Template: msttcorefonts/http_proxy
Value: <my_proxy_host_and_port>
Owners: msttcorefonts

"Wow!!" I unfilled the "Value" field, and then everything went ok. So, no matter I decided later, once I configured a proxy for installing a package, that configuration will be persisted to be used on future (at least, while the package is not successfully installed). Is that ok?? I mean, am I the only one who doesn't like that??