How to configure a proxy in a new network location using Terminal.app

Well I guess, there's no better way to do it. Darn you Apple, is it so hard to put a SOCKS Proxy setting in the iPhone OS network settings panel? :-(

Anyway, the best answer so far, and the only one I could find on the Net, is from a document from the SNIPPLR Code 2.0 website entitled How To Connect To A SOCKS Proxy From An Unjailbroken iPhone/iPod Touch.

Below is a cleaned up version of their solution:

Let's say, perhaps, that you are already forwarding your web traffic through an SSH/SOCKS tunnel at work (for privacy reasons) and you would like to use that same tunnel on your iPhone/iPod Touch. This is actually pretty easy to accomplish.

1. Make sure the SOCKS tunnel on your work computer allows LAN connections so your iPhone/iPod Touch can connect to it.

   ssh -N -g -D 1080 user@domain.com
   

2. Create a text file and insert the following code:

   function FindProxyForURL(url, host)
   { 
        return "SOCKS 192.168.xx.xx:yyyy";
   }
   

   Replace the x's with your IP and the y's with the port you used after the -D in your SSH command

3. Save the text file as a Proxy Auto-Config (PAC) file to a web accessible place with a .pac extension.

   If you're reading this chances are you know how to serve a file over HTTP on your work LAN, so I won't delve into that.

4. Finally, on your iPhone/iPod Touch, go to Settings → Wi-Fi and click the blue arrow to the right of your work network. Scroll to the bottom, click Auto and type in the address to your PAC file (e.g. http://192.168.xx.xx/mysupersecretproxy.pac).

Now you can surf the web securely from your iPhone/iPod touch.

You should not use the Web proxy, but to use the Automatic Proxy Configuration, and setup a .pac file. In this file, you specify which domain/hosts you want the proxy.

Check wiki, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proxy_auto-config, for more information.

A sample may looks like:

function FindProxyForURL(url, host) 
{
  PROXY = "PROXY 127.0.0.1:8000";
  DEFAULT = "DIRECT";

  var domain_list = [
    "blahblahblah.com"
  ];

  for (var i = domain_list.length - 1; i >= 0; i--){
    if (dnsDomainIs(host,domain_list[i])) {return PROXY}
  };
}

The other simple way is to use the Firefox, and install an extension, Autoproxy.