# File lib/rubygems/remote_fetcher.rb, line 306
  def connection_for(uri)
    net_http_args = [uri.host, uri.port]

    if @proxy_uri then
      net_http_args += [
        @proxy_uri.host,
        @proxy_uri.port,
        @proxy_uri.user,
        @proxy_uri.password
      ]
    end

    connection_id = [Thread.current.object_id, *net_http_args].join ':'
    @connections[connection_id] ||= Net::HTTP.new(*net_http_args)
    connection = @connections[connection_id]

    if https?(uri) and !connection.started? then
      configure_connection_for_https(connection)

      # Don't refactor this with the else branch. We don't want the
      # http-only code path to not depend on anything in OpenSSL.
      #
      begin
        connection.start
      rescue OpenSSL::SSL::SSLError, Errno::EHOSTDOWN => e
        raise FetchError.new(e.message, uri)
      end
    else
      begin
        connection.start unless connection.started?
      rescue Errno::EHOSTDOWN => e
        raise FetchError.new(e.message, uri)
      end
    end

    connection
  end