Question

Under Python 3.1, when trying to run this code:

from urllib import request

def test():
    request.urlopen("http://www.google.com")

test()

I get an HTTP 409 error. The stack trace is:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "C:\Users\Beau\Python\pokescrape.py", line 6, in <module>
    test()
  File "C:\Users\Beau\Python\pokescrape.py", line 4, in test
    request.urlopen("http://www.google.com")
  File "C:\Program Files\Python\lib\urllib\request.py", line 119, in urlopen
    return _opener.open(url, data, timeout)
  File "C:\Program Files\Python\lib\urllib\request.py", line 353, in open
    response = meth(req, response)
  File "C:\Program Files\Python\lib\urllib\request.py", line 465, in http_response
    'http', request, response, code, msg, hdrs)
  File "C:\Program Files\Python\lib\urllib\request.py", line 385, in error
    result = self._call_chain(*args)
  File "C:\Program Files\Python\lib\urllib\request.py", line 325, in _call_chain
    result = func(*args)
  File "C:\Program Files\Python\lib\urllib\request.py", line 560, in http_error_302
    return self.parent.open(new, timeout=req.timeout)
  File "C:\Program Files\Python\lib\urllib\request.py", line 353, in open
    response = meth(req, response)
  File "C:\Program Files\Python\lib\urllib\request.py", line 465, in http_response
    'http', request, response, code, msg, hdrs)
  File "C:\Program Files\Python\lib\urllib\request.py", line 391, in error
    return self._call_chain(*args)
  File "C:\Program Files\Python\lib\urllib\request.py", line 325, in _call_chain
    result = func(*args)
  File "C:\Program Files\Python\lib\urllib\request.py", line 473, in http_error_default
    raise HTTPError(req.full_url, code, msg, hdrs, fp)

And the actual error, as printed, is:

urllib.error.HTTPError: HTTP Error 409: Conflict

I’m behind a proxy set via a configuration script; I’ve had no issues regarding internet connection.

Why on earth am I getting an HTTP 409 error?

Answer 1

I was running into this problem too (also from Lancaster, as it happens) and found that if I set the environment variable http_proxy, Python would use it. In this case (on Windows) it would be:

set http_proxy=http://wwwcache.lancs.ac.uk:8080

and on *nix:

export http_proxy=http://wwwcache.lancs.ac.uk:8080/

Edit: Thanks Beau Martínez for the *nix fix.