how to set default proxy?

[James Michael Fultz]

* Eugeneapolinary Ju <eugeneapolinary81 at yahoo.com> [2009-10-31 13:28 -0700]:
> I know that I could use ssh tunneling:
> 
> ssh -fND localhost:6000 SOMEBODY at 192.168.56.5 -p PORTNUMBER
> 
> to surf the web through another machines internet connection -> I just
> need to set Firefox to use proxy 6000.
> 
> But:
> 
> How can I set that on the client side, to e.g.: ping through the
> machine with openssh-server? Not just setting Firefox to use port
> 6000. Is there any method for setting the default proxy in Linux, so
> that if I use wget, I will download through the ssh tunnel?

Not within my area of expertise, but I think you would need to use
packet filtering (iptables) for the general case.  I remember a friend
doing something like this once.

You can set $http_proxy for wget and other HTTP clients that support use
of the environment variable.

<http://blog.taragana.com/index.php/archive/how-to-use-wget-through-proxy/>