Need Pattern For Logging Into A Website

[Tim Daneliuk]

I need to write a Python script to do the following:

   - Connect to a URL and accept any certificate - self-signed or authoritative
   - Provide login name/password credentials
   - Fill in some presented fields
   - Hit a "Submit" button

Why?  Because I don't want to have to start a browser and do this
interactively every time I authenticate with a particular server.
I want to do this at the command line with no interactive intervention.

I know Python pretty well.  I don't quite know how to do this and
was hoping someone had a simple pattern they could share for
doing this.

TIA,
-- 
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Tim Daneliuk     tundra at tundraware.com
PGP Key:         http://www.tundraware.com/PGP/