--- /tmp/lib/TWiki.pm	2006-02-07 16:08:46.000000000 +0100
+++ lib/TWiki.pm	2006-03-20 11:18:35.000000000 +0100
@@ -1520,6 +1520,7 @@
     my $path = '';
     my $user = '';
     my $pass = '';
+    my $protocol = 'http';
 
     # For speed, read file directly if URL matches an attachment directory
     if( $theUrl =~ /^$this->{urlHost}$TWiki::cfg{PubUrlPath}\/([^\/\.]+)\/([^\/\.]+)\/([^\/]+)$/ ) {
@@ -1552,21 +1553,31 @@
         # fall through; try to include file over http based on MIME setting
     }
 
-    if( $theUrl =~ /http\:\/\/(.+)\:(.+)\@([^\:]+)\:([0-9]+)(\/.*)/ ) {
-        ( $user, $pass, $host, $port, $path ) = ( $1, $2, $3, $4, $5 );
-    } elsif( $theUrl =~ /http\:\/\/(.+)\:(.+)\@([^\/]+)(\/.*)/ ) {
-        ( $user, $pass, $host, $path ) = ( $1, $2, $3, $4 );
-    } elsif( $theUrl =~ /http\:\/\/([^\:]+)\:([0-9]+)(\/.*)/ ) {
-        ( $host, $port, $path ) = ( $1, $2, $3 );
-    } elsif( $theUrl =~ /http\:\/\/([^\/]+)(\/.*)/ ) {
-        ( $host, $path ) = ( $1, $2 );
+    if( $theUrl =~ /https:\/\/.*/ ) {
+        # provide better default port value, as we have standard port 443 for https protocol
+        $protocol = 'https';
+        $port = 443;
+    }
+
+    if( $theUrl =~ /(https?)\:\/\/(.+)\:(.+)\@([^\:]+)\:([0-9]+)(\/.*)/ ) {
+        ( $protocol, $user, $pass, $host, $port, $path ) = ( $1, $2, $3, $4, $5, $6 );
+    } elsif( $theUrl =~ /(https?)\:\/\/(.+)\:(.+)\@([^\/]+)(\/.*)/ ) {
+        ( $protocol, $user, $pass, $host, $path ) = ( $1, $2, $3, $4, $5 );
+    } elsif( $theUrl =~ /(https?)\:\/\/([^\:]+)\:([0-9]+)(\/.*)/ ) {
+        ( $protocol, $host, $port, $path ) = ( $1, $2, $3, $4 );
+    } elsif( $theUrl =~ /(https?)\:\/\/([^\/]+)(\/.*)/ ) {
+        ( $protocol, $host, $path ) = ( $1, $2, $3 );
     } else {
         $text = $this->inlineAlert( 'alerts', 'bad_protocol', $theUrl );
         return $text;
     }
 
     try {
-        $text = $this->{net}->getUrl( $host, $port, $path, $user, $pass );
+        if( $protocol =~ /https/ ) {
+            $text = $this->{net}->getSecureUrl( $host, $port, $path, $user, $pass );
+        } else {
+            $text = $this->{net}->getUrl( $host, $port, $path, $user, $pass );
+	}
         $text =~ s/\r\n/\n/gs;
         $text =~ s/\r/\n/gs;
         $text =~ s/^(.*?\n)\n(.*)/$2/s;
@@ -1577,8 +1588,13 @@
         }
         if( $contentType =~ /^text\/html/ ) {
             $path =~ s/[#?].*$//;
-            $host = 'http://'.$host;
-            if( $port != 80 ) {
+            $host = $protocol.'://'.$host;
+            if( $protocol =~ /https/ ) {
+		if( $port != 443 ) {
+                    $host .= ":$port";
+		}
+            }
+            elsif( $port != 80 ) {
                 $host .= ":$port";
             }
             $text = _cleanupIncludedHTML( $text, $host, $path );
--- /tmp/lib/TWiki/Net.pm	2006-02-07 16:08:44.000000000 +0100
+++ lib/TWiki/Net.pm	2006-03-20 11:42:50.000000000 +0100
@@ -114,6 +114,39 @@
     return $result;
 }
 
+=pod
+
+---++ ObjectMethod getSecureUrl (  $host, $port, $url, $user, $pass, $header  ) -> $text
+
+Get the text at the other end of a secure URL (https://)
+
+This method currently does not support user authentication. 
+A given user and password will be silently ignored.
+
+=cut
+
+sub getSecureUrl {
+    my ( $this, $host, $port, $url, $user, $pass, $header ) = @_;
+    ASSERT($this->isa( 'TWiki::Net')) if DEBUG;
+    ASSERT($host) if DEBUG;
+
+    if( $user =~ /..*/ ) {
+        $this->{session}->writeWarning( "TWiki::Net::getSecureUrl user (and password) authentication are currently not supported. The user will be ignored for now." );
+    }
+
+    if( $port < 1 ) { 
+        $port = 443; 
+    }
+
+    use LWP;
+    require HTTP::Request;
+    #$this->{session}->writeWarning( "TWiki::Net::getSecureUrl request: https://$host:$port$url" );
+    my $request = HTTP::Request->new(GET => "https://$host:$port$url");
+    my $ua = LWP::UserAgent->new;
+    my $response = $ua->request($request);
+    return $response->as_string;
+}
+
 # pick a default mail handler
 sub _installMailHandler {
     my $this = shift;