Ever needed to test your HTTP client app proxy support? Need an instant proxy test setup? Here is a fast way to set up a local proxy server on Debian using squid: 1.) # apt-get install squid 2.) Edit the squid configuration /etc/squid/squid.conf 2.) a) Edit ACLs. Ensure to have something like the following: acl all src all acl users proxy_auth REQUIRED 2.) b) Edit access definitions. You need (order is important): http_access allow users http_access deny all 2.) c) Setup a dummy authentication module auth_param basic program /usr/local/bin/squid_dummy_auth auth_param basic children 5 auth_param basic realm Squid proxy-caching web server auth_param basic credentialsttl 2 hours auth_param basic casesensitive off 3.) Create a authentication script # vi /usr/local/bin/squid_dummy_auth Insert something like: 
#!/bin/sh

while read dummy;
do
   echo OK
done
# chmod a+x /usr/local/bin/squid_dummy_auth 4.) Restart squid # /etc/init.d/squid restart With this you have a working Basic Auth proxy test setup running on localhost:3128.