--- imagecache.module	2008-07-22 11:44:54.000000000 +0100
+++ imagecache.module	2008-10-24 11:25:29.000000000 +0100
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@
  * Implementation of hook_perm().
  */
 function imagecache_perm() {
-  $perms =  array('administer imagecache', 'flush imagecache');
+  $perms =  array('administer imagecache', 'flush imagecache', 'cache external images');
   foreach (imagecache_presets() as $preset) {
     $perms[] =  'view imagecache '. $preset['presetname'];
   }
@@ -197,6 +197,9 @@ function imagecache_action_definition($a
  */
 function imagecache_create_url($presetname, $path) {
   $path = _imagecache_strip_file_directory($path);
+  if (stripos($path, 'http://') == 0){
+  	$path = str_ireplace('http://', 'http/', $path);
+  }
   switch (variable_get('file_downloads', FILE_DOWNLOADS_PUBLIC)) {
     case FILE_DOWNLOADS_PUBLIC:
       return url(file_directory_path() .'/imagecache/'. $presetname .'/'. $path, NULL, NULL, TRUE);
@@ -270,6 +273,18 @@ function _imagecache_cache($presetname, 
     header('HTTP/1.0 404 Not Found');
     exit;
   }
+  
+  // handle external http files
+  if (user_access('cache external images')) {
+		$args = split('/', $path, 2);
+		$http = ($args[0]=='http');
+		if($http){
+			$dst = file_create_path() .'/imagecache/'. $preset['presetname'] .'/http/' . urlencode($args[1]);
+			if (file_exists($dst)) {
+				imagecache_transfer($dst);
+			} 
+		}
+  }
 
   // umm yeah deliver it early if it is there. especially useful
   // to prevent lock files from being created when delivering private files. 
@@ -310,6 +325,34 @@ function _imagecache_cache($presetname, 
       }
     }
   
+  	// handle external http files
+  	if($http){
+  		$url = 'http://'. $args[1];
+  		$src = file_create_path() . '/imagecache/http-originals/' . urlencode($args[1]);
+  		if (!file_exists($src)) {
+  			$dir = file_create_path() .'/imagecache/http-originals';
+				if(!file_check_directory($dir)){
+					mkdir($dir, 0775, true);
+				}
+				$result = drupal_http_request($url);
+				$code = floor($result->code / 100) * 100;
+				$types = array('image/jpeg', 'image/png', 'image/gif');
+				
+				if($result->data && $code != 400 && $code != 500 && in_array($result->Content-Type, $types)){
+					$src = file_save_data($result->data, $src);
+				}
+				else
+				{
+					//to prevent calling this external site repeatedly place blank file??
+					$src = file_save_data('', $src);
+				}
+			}
+			$dst = file_create_path() .'/imagecache/'. $preset['presetname'] .'/http/' . urlencode($args[1]);
+			if(imagecache_build_derivative($preset['actions'], $src, $dst)){
+				imagecache_transfer($dst);
+			}
+  	}
+  
     // if there is a 404 image uploaded for the preset display it.
     $notfoundpath = file_create_path('imagecache/'. $preset['presetname'] .'.404.png');
     if (file_exists($notfoundpath)) {