http://www.perlmonks.org?node_id=1015419

AnK_ has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

Dear Monks, I spent considerable time trying to figure out why the following code works fast on some sites and very slow on others. All sites are equally fast in Firefox. 

my $start_page = 'https://www.yahoo.com';#fast
#$start_page = 'https://github.com'; #fast
#$start_page = 'https://metacpan.org'; #fast

my $mech = WWW::Mechanize->new()->get( $start_page );

[download]

Replacing WWW::Mechanize with WWW::Mechanize::Firefox corrects the problem. However requires Firefox I am trying to avoid. I attempted to analyze 'get' request in Firefox using Tamper Data but could not figure out what is the difference. At this point I kindly request your wisdom. Please be specific as much as posiible - I am not an expert in programming in general and in perl specifically. Thank you in advance.

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: Slow WWW::Mechanize->get
by roboticus (Chancellor) on Jan 26, 2013 at 00:54 UTC

    Ank_:

    The only theory I have is that the site is looking at the user agent string to do some things, and when it doesn't contain a 'mainstream' agent string, their site may be doing something to make it slower. To test the theory, try setting up a different agent string and see if it replies faster.

    ...roboticus

    When your only tool is a hammer, all problems look like your thumb.

[reply]
      Dear roboticus, I just recognized the right question to ask: How can I print/see/dump/compare WWW::Mechanize's and Firefox's user agent strings set to the site.
[reply]

        From the docs:

        $mech->agent_alias('Windows Mozilla') is probably sufficient. You can use $mech->known_agent_aliases() to get a list of the agent aliases built into WWW::Mechanize.

        ...roboticus

        When your only tool is a hammer, all problems look like your thumb.

[reply]
[d/l]
[select]
        read the docs :) ->res->headers->as_string
[reply]
      Thanks, roboticus, will do ...
[reply]

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