Image request failing. Possible HTTPS issue - perl

Question

I'm working with some Perl code that I don't understand:
my $tmpdir = "XXX";
my $src = "tmp" . time . int rand 10 . ".jpg";
while ( -s "$tmpdir/$src" ) {
$src = "tmp" . time . int rand 10 . ".jpg";
}
my $ua = LWP::UserAgent->new( keep_alive => 0, timeout => 10 );
my $req = HTTP::Request->new(
"GET",
"https://www.com/act/couponimage/1877",
);
my $res = $ua->request( $req, "$tmpdir/$src" );
if ( ! $res || ! -s "$tmpdir/$src" ) {
header( 301, 0, 0, "https://www.com/" );
exit 0;
}
For some reason it hits the point where it redirects to the main page (the header code).
There is clearly something wrong here because it never executes past the last if clause which redirects. Maybe it has to do with using HTTPS?
It is not a filesystem issue. The following coupon image path works fine
Xxx.com/img/coupon-2600.jpg

Answer 1

The request should be working fine,
but as pointed out, you really should check what version of the packages you are using.
For me ( perl 5.22 - LWP::UserAgent 6.26 ) the call $ua->req( $req ) needs to be $ua->request( $req->uri ). And the file to store the response in must be given with $ua->request( $req->uri, :content_file => $fn ) .
I think the original author assumed the content file would be created by giving the filename to $ua->request. With :content_file, that is what's happening for me. He put the while ( -s $src ) in place to ensure he got a filename that was not yet taken.
Thus, I believe the solution to your problem is to change
my $res = $ua->request($req, "$tmpdir/$src") to
$ua->request($req->uri, ':content_file' => "$tmpdir/$src" );
The docs mention that using :content_file means the actual response content is no longer stored in the object, so you may have to adapt your code.
If all you need is the file, I would adapt the final if to check for the file that should now exist ( which should, I believe, only happen upon successful response ).
If what you need is the $res object to use later, I would probably opt to check the response worked, then print the content to the file you want it in, so just do
my $res = $ua->request( $req->uri );
adapt the if accordingly and print content to file.
I would personally prefer the latter, as I can check the response for success, then print: this seems much clearer.