---
id: ndg-httpsclient
version: "0.5.1"
license: BSD - See ndg/httpsclient/LICENCE file for details
license_treatment: permissive
maintenance: active
---

# ndg-httpsclient — Provides enhanced HTTPS support for httplib and urllib2 using PyOpenSSL

License: permissive · Maintenance: active · Downloads: 6.5M/mo

## What it is and what it does

ndg-httpsclient wraps PyOpenSSL to provide enhanced HTTPS support for Python's standard library HTTP clients. It patches httplib/http.client and urllib2/urllib to perform full SSL peer verification, including validation of Subject Alternative Names (SANs) in certificates using pyasn1. This addresses limitations in Python's default SSL implementation by enabling stricter certificate validation.

The package is designed for scenarios where you need reliable HTTPS connections with proper certificate verification—particularly important for scientific computing, system administration, and security-sensitive applications. It includes a command-line utility for fetching HTTPS resources with certificate and key options, and supports both Python 2.7 and Python 3.4+. The package has been in production use since 2012 and remains actively maintained.

Use it for:

- Fetch HTTPS resources with full SSL peer verification in legacy Python 2 or early Python 3 codebases.
- Validate certificates with Subject Alternative Names (SANs) when the standard library's SSL support is insufficient.
- Integrate client certificate authentication (mutual TLS) with custom CA certificate directories.
- Command-line HTTPS downloads with certificate and key file options for automated scripts.
- Scientific and research workflows requiring secure HTTPS communication with strict certificate validation.

## Worth the install?

AI-flagged interpretation of the facts above — verify before relying.

Provides enhanced HTTPS support for Python's httplib and urllib2 (or http.client and urllib in Python 3) by wrapping PyOpenSSL to enable full SSL peer verification using certificate validation.

Yes, if you need enhanced HTTPS verification for Python 2.7 or early Python 3 code, or if you require SAN validation that the standard library doesn't provide. No, if you are starting a new project on modern Python 3—use the standard library's ssl module or requests library instead. The package is stable and dependency-light, but its last release was in 2018; verify compatibility with your target Python version before adopting.

## Install

pip install ndg-httpsclient
uv add ndg-httpsclient
poetry add ndg-httpsclient

## Installing ndg-httpsclient

Before you install: Low friction install with no runtime dependencies. Package is actively maintained as of 2026-03-24 and marked Production/Stable, though the latest release was in 2018.

License in practice: BSD license (permissive) allows use in most projects with minimal restrictions; see the LICENCE file in the package for full details.

Quickstart:

pip install ndg-httpsclient

import ndg.httpsclient.utils
response = ndg.httpsclient.utils.open_url('https://example.com')

Requires PyOpenSSL and pyasn1 to be installed for full SSL verification; pyasn1 is mandatory for subjectAltNames support.

Verify before relying:

- Whether PyOpenSSL and pyasn1 are automatically installed as dependencies or must be installed separately.
- Current compatibility with modern Python versions beyond 3.6 (classifiers stop at 3.6).
- Whether this package is still recommended for new projects or primarily maintained for legacy code.

## Package facts

- License: BSD - See ndg/httpsclient/LICENCE file for details (permissive)
- Python support: unspecified
- Install friction: low
- Maintenance: active
- Downloads: 6.5M/month (top 5,000 on PyPI)
- Known vulnerabilities: none known

## Tags

HTTPS client SSL verification, PyOpenSSL wrapper httplib, SSL certificate validation Python, enhanced HTTPS support, peer certificate verification, urllib2 HTTPS enhancement, http.client SSL wrapper, https-client, ssl-verification, legacy-python

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