diff --git a/engines/default/lib/http-engine.js b/engines/default/lib/http-engine.js
deleted file mode 100644
index 9338e1a9..00000000
--- a/engines/default/lib/http-engine.js
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,2 +0,0 @@
-require("narwhal").deprecated("use http-client-engine instead of http-engine");
-require("narwhal/util").update(exports. require("http-client-engine"));
diff --git a/engines/rhino/lib/http-client-engine.js b/engines/rhino/lib/http-client-engine.js
index 46ab52ab..e4a0f3b4 100644
--- a/engines/rhino/lib/http-client-engine.js
+++ b/engines/rhino/lib/http-client-engine.js
@@ -1,99 +1,80 @@
 
-// -- isaacs Isaac Schlueter
 // -- kriskowal Kris Kowal Copyright (C) 2009-2010 MIT License
+// -- tlrobinson Tom Robinson
 
-var IO = require("io").IO,
-    UTIL = require("narwhal/util");
+var IO = require("io").IO;
 
-exports.IO = function (url) {
-    return new IO(
-        new java.net.URL(url).openStream(),
-        null
-    );
-};
+exports.open = function(url, mode, options) {
+    var connection, output, input;
 
-exports.connect = function HttpClient_engine_connect (tx) {
-    if (tx._isConnected) return;
-    
-    var con = java.net.HttpURLConnection(new java.net.URL(tx.url).openConnection());
-    con.setRequestMethod(tx.method.toUpperCase());
-    
-    UTIL.forEach(tx.headers, function (h, v) {
-        con.setRequestProperty(h, v);
-    });
-    if (!tx.headers) tx.headers = {};
-    var cl = UTIL.get(tx.headers, "Content-Length") || 0;
-    if (cl > 0) {
-        con.setDoOutput(true);
-        var os = null;
-        try {
-            os = con.getOutputStream();
-        } catch (ex) {}
-        if (os) {
-            var writer = new IO(null, con.getOutputStream());
-            tx.body.forEach(function (piece) {
-                writer.write(piece);
-            });
-            writer.close();
-        }
-    }
-    
-    try {
-        con.connect();
-    } catch (ex) {
-        // It would be nice to do something clever and special here,
-        // but I'm not feeling it at the moment.
-        ex.message = [
-            "Could not connect to "+tx.url+". Probably a bad hostname.",
-            ex.message
-        ].join("\n");
-        throw ex;
-    }
-    
-    tx._isConnected = true;
-    var resp = tx._response = {status:200, headers:{}, body:[]};
-    
-    // Call this now to trigger the fetch asynchronously.
-    // This way, if you set up multiple HttpClients, and then call connect()
-    // on all of them, you'll only wait as long as the slowest one, since
-    // the streams will start filling up right away.
-    
-    
-    // now pull everything out.
-    var fields = con.getHeaderFields();
-    var fieldKeys = fields.keySet().toArray();
-    for (var i = 0, l = fieldKeys.length; i < l; i ++ ) {
-        var fieldValue = fields.get(fieldKeys[i]).toArray().join('');
-        var fieldName = fieldKeys[i];
-        if (fieldName === null) {
-            // Something like: HTTP/1.1 200 OK
-            UTIL.set(resp, "status", +(/HTTP\/1\.[01] ([0-9]{3})/.exec(fieldValue)[1]));
-            // fieldName = "Status";
-            resp.statusText = fieldValue;
-            continue;
+    function startRequest() {
+        connection = new java.net.URL(url).openConnection();
+        connection.setDoInput(true);
+        connection.setDoOutput(true);
+        connection.setRequestMethod(options.method);
+        connection.setInstanceFollowRedirects(!!options.followRedirects);
+
+        for (var name in options.headers) {
+            if (options.headers.hasOwnProperty(name)) {
+                connection.addRequestProperty(String(name), String(options.headers[name]));
+            }
         }
-        UTIL.set(resp.headers, fieldName, fieldValue);
+
+        connection.connect();
+
+        output = new IO(null, connection.getOutputStream());
+        input = null;
     }
 
-    // TODO: Restructure using non-blocking IO to support asynchronous interactions.
-    // In that case, you could just have a callback that gets each bytestring.
-    var is = null;
-    try {
-        var is = con.getInputStream();
-    } catch (ex) {
-        return resp;
+    startRequest();
+
+    var request = {
+        status : null,
+        headers : {},
+        read : function() {
+            if (!input) {
+                output.close();
+                input = new IO(connection.getInputStream(), null);
+                this.status = Number(connection.getResponseCode());
+                this.statusText = String(connection.getResponseMessage() || "");
+                for (var i = 0; ; i++) {
+                    var key = connection.getHeaderFieldKey(i), value = connection.getHeaderField(i);
+                    if (!key && !value) {
+                        break;
+                    }
+                    if (key) {
+                        key = String(key);
+                        value = String(value);
+                        this.headers[key] = value;
+                        if (key.toUpperCase() === "LOCATION")
+                            url = value;
+                    }
+                }
+
+                // Manually follow cross-protocol redirects because Java doesn't:
+                // http://bugs.sun.com/bugdatabase/view_bug.do?bug_id=4620571
+                if (options.followRedirects && this.status >= 300 && this.status < 400) {
+                    // TODO: should we change the method to GET if it was not a GET like curl does?
+                    startRequest();
+                    return this.read.apply(this, arguments);
+                }
+            }
+            return input.read.apply(input, arguments);
+        },
+        write : function() {
+            output.write.apply(output, arguments);
+            return this;
+        },
+        flush : function() {
+            output.flush.apply(output, arguments);
+            return this;
+        },
+        close : function() {
+            output && output.close();
+            input && input.close();
+            return this;
+        },
+        copy : IO.prototype.copy
     }
-    
-    // TODO: Should the input stream be rewindable?
-    var reader = new IO(con.getInputStream(), null);
-    resp.body = {forEach : function (block) {
-        var buflen = 1024;
-        for (
-            var bytes = reader.read(buflen);
-            bytes.length > 0;
-            bytes = reader.read(buflen)
-        ) block(bytes);
-    }};
-    
-    return resp;
+    return request;
 };
diff --git a/engines/rhino/lib/http-engine.js b/engines/rhino/lib/http-engine.js
deleted file mode 100644
index ad499f25..00000000
--- a/engines/rhino/lib/http-engine.js
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,12 +0,0 @@
-
-// -- kriskowal Kris Kowal Copyright (C) 2009-2010 MIT License
-
-var IO = require('./io').IO;
-
-exports.IO = function (url) {
-    return new IO(
-        new java.net.URL(url).openStream(),
-        null
-    );
-};
-
diff --git a/engines/rhino/lib/http.js b/engines/rhino/lib/http.js
deleted file mode 100644
index 230e8454..00000000
--- a/engines/rhino/lib/http.js
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,79 +0,0 @@
-
-// -- tlrobinson Tom Robinson
-
-var FILE = require("file");
-var IO = require("io").IO;
-
-exports.open = function(url, mode, options) {
-    mode = mode || "b";
-    options = options || {};
-
-    options.method = options.method || "GET";
-    options.headers = options.headers || {};
-
-    var connection = new java.net.URL(url).openConnection();
-    connection.setDoInput(true);
-    connection.setDoOutput(true);
-    connection.setRequestMethod(options.method);
-
-    for (var name in options.headers){
-        connection.addRequestProperty(String(name), String(options.headers[name]));
-    }
-
-    connection.connect();
-
-    var output = new IO(null, connection.getOutputStream());
-    var input = null;
-
-    var request = {
-        status : null,
-        headers : {},
-        read : function() {
-            if (!input) {
-                output.close();
-                input = new IO(connection.getInputStream(), null);
-                this.status = Number(connection.getResponseCode());
-                this.statusText = String(connection.getResponseMessage() || "");
-                for (var i = 0; ; i++) {
-                    var key = connection.getHeaderFieldKey(i), value = connection.getHeaderField(i);
-                    if (! key && ! value)
-                        break;
-                    if (key)
-                        this.headers[String(key)] = String(value);
-                }
-            }
-            return input.read.apply(input, arguments);
-        },
-        write : function() {
-            output.write.apply(output, arguments);
-            return this;
-        },
-        flush : function() {
-            output.flush.apply(output, arguments);
-            return this;
-        },
-        close : function() {
-            if (output)
-                output.close();
-            if (input)
-                input.close();
-            return this;
-        },
-        copy : IO.prototype.copy
-    }
-    return request;
-};
-
-exports.read = function(url) {
-    var stream = exports.open(url);
-    try {
-        return stream.read();
-    } finally {
-        stream.close();
-    }
-};
-
-exports.copy = function(source, target, mode) {
-    mode = mode || "b";
-    return FILE.path(target).write(exports.read(source, mode), mode);
-};
diff --git a/lib/http-client.js b/lib/http-client.js
index ca20a7be..d1e31763 100644
--- a/lib/http-client.js
+++ b/lib/http-client.js
@@ -4,15 +4,22 @@
 // -- kriskowal Kris Kowal Copyright (C) 2009-2010 MIT License
 // -- cadorn Christoph Dorn TODO
 // -- veged Sergey Berezhnoy TODO
+// -- tlrobinson Tom Robinson
 
-var IO = require("io").IO,
-    UTIL = require("narwhal/util"),
-    ENGINE = require("http-client-engine"),
-    FS = require("file");
+var ENGINE = require("http-client-engine");
+var FILE = require("file");
 
 exports.open = function (url, mode, options) {
     // todo mode negotiation, particularly for binary vs text buffering
-    return new ENGINE.IO(url);
+    mode = mode || "b";
+    options = options || {};
+
+    options.method = options.method || "GET";
+    options.headers = options.headers || {};
+    if (options.followRedirects === undefined)
+        options.followRedirects = true;
+
+    return ENGINE.open(url, mode, options);
 };
 
 exports.read = function (url) {
@@ -27,147 +34,5 @@ exports.read = function (url) {
 // TODO resolve the source as a file URL
 exports.copy = function (source, target, mode) {
     mode = mode || 'b';
-    return FS.path(target).write(exports.read(source, mode), mode);
-};
-
-exports.HttpClient = HttpClient;
-
-var newTransactionId = (function () {
-    var id = 1;
-    return function () {
-        return id ++;
-    };
-})();
-
-var transaction = (function () {
-    var hidden = {};
-    return function (id, del) {
-        if (del && hidden.hasOwnProperty(id)) {
-            delete hidden[id];
-            return;
-        }
-        if (!hidden.hasOwnProperty(id)) hidden[id] = {};
-        return hidden[id];
-    };
-})();
-
-// {method, url, headers, body}
-// return value is {status:status, headers:{..}, body:[..]}
-function HttpClient (settings) {
-    if (!(this instanceof HttpClient)) return new HttpClient(settings);
-    if (!this.txId) this.create();
-    if (settings) this.setOptions(settings);
-};
-
-HttpClient.prototype = {
-
-    create : function HttpClient_create () {
-        // clean up, set up defaults.
-        transaction(this.txId, true);
-        this.txId = newTransactionId();
-        this.setOptions({
-            "method" : "GET",
-            "headers" : {},
-            "body" : []
-        });
-        return this;
-    },
-
-    setOptions : function HttpClient_setOption (settings) {
-        for (var key in settings)  if (settings.hasOwnProperty(key)) {
-            this.setOption(key, settings[key]);
-        }
-        return this;
-    },
-
-    setOption : function HttpClient_setOption (key, val) {
-        var guts = transaction(this.txId);
-        switch (key) {
-            case "headers":
-                if (typeof val !== 'object') throw new Error(
-                    "HttpClient: headers must be a simple object."
-                );
-                return this.setHeaders(val);
-            case "body":
-                if (typeof val.forEach !== 'function') throw new Error(
-                    "HttpClient: body must be iterable."
-                );
-                // fallthrough
-            default:
-                guts[key] = val;
-        }
-        return this;
-    },
-
-    setHeaders : function HttpClient_setHeaders (headers) {
-        for (var h in headers) if (headers.hasOwnProperty(h)) {
-            this.setHeader(h, headers[h]);
-        }
-        return this;
-    },
-
-    setHeader : function HttpClient_setHeader (key, val) {
-        var guts = transaction(this.txId);
-        if (!guts.hasOwnProperty("headers")) guts.headers = {};
-        UTIL.set(guts.headers, key, val);
-        return this;
-    },
-
-    write : function HttpClient_write (data) {
-        var guts = transaction(this.txId);
-        var len = UTIL.get(guts.headers, "Content-Length") || 0;
-        len += data.length;
-        UTIL.set(guts.headers, "Content-Length", len);
-        guts.body.push(data);
-        return this;
-    },
-
-    connect : function HttpClient_connect (decode) {
-        var guts = transaction(this.txId);
-        var resp = ENGINE.connect(guts);
-        if (decode) HttpClient.decode(resp);
-        transaction(this.txId, true);
-        return resp;
-    }
-
+    return FILE.path(target).write(exports.read(source, mode), mode);
 };
-
-HttpClient.decode = function HttpClient_decode (resp, encoding) {
-    encoding = encoding || UTIL.get(resp.headers, "Content-Encoding");
-    if (!encoding) {
-        var contentType = UTIL.get(resp.headers, "Content-Type");
-        if (contentType) {
-            encoding = /charset=([^;\s]+)/.exec(contentType);
-            if (encoding) encoding = encoding[1];
-        }
-    }
-    // fall back on UTF-8. It's almost always a good choice.
-    if (!encoding) encoding = 'UTF-8';
-    var raw = resp.body;
-    resp._rawBody = raw;
-    resp.body = {forEach : function (block) {
-        raw.forEach(function (i) {
-            block(i.decodeToString(encoding));
-        });
-    }};
-    return resp;
-};
-
-HttpClient.undecode = function HttpClient_undecode (resp) {
-    if ("_rawBody" in resp) resp.body = resp._rawBody;
-    delete resp._rawBody;
-    return resp;
-};
-
-HttpClient.print = function HttpClient_print (resp) {
-    var out = [];
-    out.push(resp.statusText);
-    UTIL.forEach(resp.headers, function (h, v) {
-        out.push(h+": "+v);
-    });
-    out.push("");
-    out=[out.join("\n")];
-    resp.body.forEach(function (p) { out.push(p) });
-    print(out.join(""));
-};
-