? http_request_basic_auth.patch
Index: includes/common.inc
===================================================================
RCS file: /cvs/drupal/drupal/includes/common.inc,v
retrieving revision 1.698
diff -u -p -r1.698 common.inc
--- includes/common.inc	8 Oct 2007 14:08:19 -0000	1.698
+++ includes/common.inc	10 Oct 2007 19:33:23 -0000
@@ -464,6 +464,9 @@ function drupal_http_request($url, $head
 
   $request = $method .' '. $path ." HTTP/1.0\r\n";
   $request .= implode("\r\n", $defaults);
+  if (isset($uri['user']) && isset($uri['pass'])) {
+    $request .= "\r\nAuthorization: Basic ". base64_encode($uri['user'] .":". $uri['pass']);
+  }
   $request .= "\r\n\r\n";
   if ($data) {
     $request .= $data ."\r\n";