urllib.urlopen and https question

[bowman.joseph at gmail.com]

Hi,

I'm new to python. I've been handed the job of modifying a script we
have here at work that pulls content from a zope site, to create static
html. They wanted a check to make sure the database is up, while
pulling, to avoid errors.

I got it pretty much working how I want without any problems. It's
actually an error check I'm having a problem with.

Usernames and passwords change.... I'm using urlib.urlopen to open a
connection to a https url using the format of
https://username:password@url. This works great. However, if I put in
the wrong username, the python script prompts for user validation,
rather than giving an error.

The script is not interactive, will be run by cron. So I can't just let
it hang. I'm trying to figure out if there is a way to catch that
prompt and error out within the python script, rather that writing an
expect wrapper for it. The less interpeters I have to use, the better
for my cpu.