diff --git a/TODO b/TODO
index 91b8830..ab88dbd 100644
--- a/TODO
+++ b/TODO
@@ -1,3 +1,10 @@
+add callback module to manual
+change stay to redirect in http.lua and in manual
+add timeout to request table
+
+change code to mime
+change *all* modules to be namespace independent
+
 write some utilities that use the code.lua module and put them 
 in etc, modify the README.etc file and makefile.dist (eol.lua is done)
 
diff --git a/src/http.lua b/src/http.lua
index f51da25..fb13d99 100644
--- a/src/http.lua
+++ b/src/http.lua
@@ -40,6 +40,7 @@ BLOCKSIZE = 8192
 local function try_receiving(sock, pattern)
     local data, err = sock:receive(pattern)
     if not data then sock:close() end
+--print(data)
     return data, err
 end
 
@@ -53,6 +54,7 @@ end
 local function try_sending(sock, ...)
     local sent, err = sock:send(unpack(arg))
     if not sent then sock:close() end
+--io.write(unpack(arg))
     return err
 end
 
@@ -425,7 +427,10 @@ local function authorize(reqt, parsed, respt)
         method = reqt.method,
         url = reqt.url,
         body_cb = reqt.body_cb,
-        headers = reqt.headers
+        headers = reqt.headers,
+        timeout = reqt.timeout,
+        host = reqt.host,
+        port = reqt.port
     }
     return request_cb(autht, respt)
 end
@@ -439,11 +444,10 @@ end
 --   1 if we should redirect, nil otherwise
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 local function should_redirect(reqt, respt)
-    local follow = not reqt.stay
-    follow = follow and (respt.code == 301 or respt.code == 302)
-    follow = follow and (reqt.method == "GET" or reqt.method == "HEAD")
-    follow = follow and not (reqt.nredirects and reqt.nredirects >= 5)
-    return follow
+    return (reqt.redirect ~= false) and 
+           (respt.code == 301 or respt.code == 302) and 
+           (reqt.method == "GET" or reqt.method == "HEAD") and
+            not (reqt.nredirects and reqt.nredirects >= 5)
 end
 
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
@@ -465,7 +469,10 @@ local function redirect(reqt, respt)
         -- servers do not respect that 
         url = socket.url.absolute(reqt.url, respt.headers["location"]),
         body_cb = reqt.body_cb,
-        headers = reqt.headers
+        headers = reqt.headers,
+        timeout = reqt.timeout,
+        host = reqt.host,
+        port = reqt.port
     }
     respt = request_cb(redirt, respt)
     -- we pass the location header as a clue we tried to redirect
@@ -475,18 +482,24 @@ end
 
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 -- Computes the request URI from the parsed request URL
+-- If host and port are given in the request table, we use he
+-- absoluteURI format. Otherwise, we use the abs_path format.
 -- Input
 --   parsed: parsed URL
 -- Returns
 --   uri: request URI for parsed URL
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-local function request_uri(parsed)
-    local uri = ""
-    if parsed.path then uri = uri .. parsed.path end
-    if parsed.params then uri = uri .. ";" .. parsed.params end
-    if parsed.query then uri = uri .. "?" .. parsed.query end
-    if parsed.fragment then uri = uri .. "#" .. parsed.fragment end
-    return uri
+local function request_uri(reqt, parsed)
+    local url
+    if not reqt.host and not reqt.port then
+        url = { 
+           path = parsed.path, 
+           params = parsed.params, 
+           query = parsed.query, 
+           fragment = parsed.fragment
+        }
+    else url = parsed end
+    return socket.url.build(url)
 end
 
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
@@ -519,7 +532,7 @@ end
 --     user, password: authentication information
 --     headers: request headers to send, or nil if none
 --     body_cb: request message body send-callback, or nil if none
---     stay: should we refrain from following a server redirect message?
+--     redirect: should we refrain from following a server redirect message?
 --   respt: a table with the following fields:
 --     body_cb: response method body receive-callback
 -- Returns
@@ -552,16 +565,17 @@ function request_cb(reqt, respt)
     sock, respt.error = socket.tcp()
     if not sock then return respt end
     -- set connection timeout so that we do not hang forever
-    sock:settimeout(TIMEOUT)
+    sock:settimeout(reqt.timeout or TIMEOUT)
     local ret
-    ret, respt.error = sock:connect(parsed.host, parsed.port)
+    ret, respt.error = sock:connect(reqt.host or parsed.host, 
+        reqt.port or parsed.port)
     if not ret then 
         sock:close()
         return respt 
     end
     -- send request message
     respt.error = send_request(sock, reqt.method, 
-        request_uri(parsed), reqt.headers, reqt.body_cb)
+        request_uri(reqt, parsed), reqt.headers, reqt.body_cb)
     if respt.error then 
         sock:close()
         return respt 
@@ -570,7 +584,7 @@ function request_cb(reqt, respt)
     respt.code, respt.status, respt.error = receive_status(sock)
     if respt.error then return respt end
     -- deal with continue 100 
-    -- servers should not send them, but they might
+    -- servers should not send them, but some do!
     if respt.code == 100 then
         respt.headers, respt.error = receive_headers(sock, {})
         if respt.error then return respt end
@@ -612,7 +626,7 @@ end
 --     user, password: authentication information
 --     headers: request header fields, or nil if none
 --     body: request message body as a string, or nil if none
---     stay: should we refrain from following a server redirect message?
+--     redirect: should we refrain from following a server redirect message?
 -- Returns
 --   respt: a table with the following fields:
 --     body: response message body, or nil if failed
@@ -623,9 +637,9 @@ end
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 function request(reqt)
     local respt = {}
-    reqt.body_cb = socket.callback.send_string(reqt.body) 
+    reqt.body_cb = socket.callback.send.string(reqt.body) 
     local concat = socket.concat.create()
-    respt.body_cb = socket.callback.receive_concat(concat)
+    respt.body_cb = socket.callback.receive.concat(concat)
     respt = request_cb(reqt, respt)
     respt.body = concat:getresult()
     respt.body_cb = nil
diff --git a/src/tcp.c b/src/tcp.c
index 34dd71c..ce2ae17 100644
--- a/src/tcp.c
+++ b/src/tcp.c
@@ -230,15 +230,15 @@ static int meth_bind(lua_State *L)
     p_tcp tcp = (p_tcp) aux_checkclass(L, "tcp{master}", 1);
     const char *address =  luaL_checkstring(L, 2);
     unsigned short port = (unsigned short) luaL_checknumber(L, 3);
-    int backlog = (int) luaL_optnumber(L, 4, 0);
+    int backlog = (int) luaL_optnumber(L, 4, 1);
     const char *err = inet_trybind(&tcp->sock, address, port, backlog);
     if (err) {
         lua_pushnil(L);
         lua_pushstring(L, err);
         return 2;
     }
-    /* turn master object into a server object */
-    aux_setclass(L, "tcp{server}", 1);
+    /* turn master object into a server object if there was a listen */
+    if (backlog > 0) aux_setclass(L, "tcp{server}", 1);
     lua_pushnumber(L, 1);
     return 1;
 }
diff --git a/test/httptest.lua b/test/httptest.lua
index 96c9378..3d0db87 100644
--- a/test/httptest.lua
+++ b/test/httptest.lua
@@ -3,6 +3,29 @@
 -- needs ScriptAlias from /home/c/diego/tec/luasocket/test/cgi
 -- to "/luasocket-test-cgi" and "/luasocket-test-cgi/"
 -- needs "AllowOverride AuthConfig" on /home/c/diego/tec/luasocket/test/auth
+dofile("noglobals.lua")
+
+local host, proxyh, proxyp, request, response
+local ignore, expect, index, prefix, cgiprefix
+
+local t = socket.time()
+
+host = host or "diego.princeton.edu"
+proxyh = proxyh or "localhost"
+proxyp = proxyp or 3128
+prefix = prefix or "/luasocket-test"
+cgiprefix = cgiprefix or "/luasocket-test-cgi"
+
+local readfile = function(name)
+	local f = io.open(name, "r")
+	if not f then return nil end
+	local s = f:read("*a")
+	f:close()
+	return s
+end
+
+index = readfile("test/index.html")
+
 local similar = function(s1, s2)
 	return string.lower(string.gsub(s1 or "", "%s", "")) == 
         string.lower(string.gsub(s2 or "", "%s", ""))
@@ -14,14 +37,6 @@ local fail = function(s)
 	os.exit()
 end
 
-local readfile = function(name)
-	local f = io.open(name, "r")
-	if not f then return nil end
-	local s = f:read("*a")
-	f:close()
-	return s
-end
-
 local check = function (v, e)
 	if v then print("ok")
 	else fail(e) end
@@ -48,23 +63,12 @@ local check_request = function(request, expect, ignore)
 	print("ok")
 end
 
-local host, request, response, ignore, expect, index, prefix, cgiprefix
-
-local t = socket.time()
-
-host = host or "localhost"
-prefix = prefix or "/luasocket-test"
-cgiprefix = cgiprefix or "/luasocket-test-cgi"
-index = readfile("test/index.html")
-
 io.write("testing request uri correctness: ")
 local forth = cgiprefix .. "/request-uri?" .. "this+is+the+query+string"
 local back, h, c, e = socket.http.get("http://" .. host .. forth)
-if similar(back, forth) then print("ok")
-else 
-print(h, c, e)
-fail()
-end
+back = socket.url.parse(back)
+if similar(back.query, "this+is+the+query+string") then print("ok")
+else fail() end
 
 io.write("testing query string correctness: ")
 forth = "this+is+the+query+string"
@@ -86,7 +90,19 @@ ignore = {
 }
 check_request(request, expect, ignore)
 
-socket.http.get("http://" .. host .. prefix .. "/lixo.html")
+io.write("testing redirect loop: ")
+request = {
+    url = "http://" .. host .. cgiprefix .. "/redirect-loop"
+}
+expect = {
+    code = 302
+}
+ignore = {
+	status = 1,
+	headers = 1,
+	body = 1
+}
+check_request(request, expect, ignore)
 
 io.write("testing post method: ")
 -- wanted to test chunked post, but apache doesn't support it...
@@ -107,16 +123,35 @@ ignore = {
 }
 check_request(request, expect, ignore)
 
+io.write("testing proxy with post method: ")
+request = {
+	url = "http://" .. host .. cgiprefix .. "/cat",
+	method = "POST",
+	body = index,
+    headers = { ["content-length"] = string.len(index) },
+    port = proxyp,
+    host = proxyh
+}
+expect = {
+	body = index,
+	code = 200
+}
+ignore = {
+	status = 1,
+	headers = 1
+}
+check_request(request, expect, ignore)
+
 io.write("testing simple post function: ")
-body = socket.http.post("http://" .. host .. cgiprefix .. "/cat", index)
-check(body == index)
+back = socket.http.post("http://" .. host .. cgiprefix .. "/cat", index)
+check(back == index)
 
 io.write("testing simple post function with table args: ")
-body = socket.http.post {
+back = socket.http.post {
 	url = "http://" .. host .. cgiprefix .. "/cat",
 	body = index
 }
-check(body == index)
+check(back == index)
 
 io.write("testing http redirection: ")
 request = {
@@ -132,6 +167,22 @@ ignore = {
 }
 check_request(request, expect, ignore)
 
+io.write("testing proxy with redirection: ")
+request = {
+	url = "http://" .. host .. prefix,
+    host = proxyh,
+    port = proxyp
+}
+expect = {
+	body = index,
+	code = 200
+}
+ignore = {
+	status = 1,
+	headers = 1
+}
+check_request(request, expect, ignore)
+
 
 io.write("testing automatic auth failure: ")
 request = {
@@ -150,7 +201,7 @@ check_request(request, expect, ignore)
 io.write("testing http redirection failure: ")
 request = {
 	url = "http://" .. host .. prefix,
-	stay = 1
+	redirect = false
 }
 expect = {
     code = 301
@@ -273,20 +324,6 @@ ignore = {
 }
 check_request(request, expect, ignore)
 
-io.write("testing redirect loop: ")
-request = {
-    url = "http://" .. host .. cgiprefix .. "/redirect-loop"
-}
-expect = {
-    code = 302
-}
-ignore = {
-	status = 1,
-	headers = 1,
-	body = 1
-}
-check_request(request, expect, ignore)
-
 io.write("testing wrong scheme: ")
 request = {
 	url = "wrong://" .. host .. cgiprefix .. "/cat",