--- a/common-functions.inc	Mon Oct 15 18:32:56 2012 +0200
+++ b/common-functions.inc	Wed Oct 17 20:43:07 2012 +0200
@@ -12,6 +12,24 @@
 $cache->includeOnce('StatusCodes.inc', $baseDir);
 /// @endcond
 
+class RequestException extends RuntimeException
+{
+  private $_info;
+
+  function __construct($info)
+  {
+    $this->_info = $info;
+    if (array_key_exists('error', $info)) {
+      parent::__construct($info['error']);
+    }
+  }
+
+  function info()
+  {
+    return $this->_info;
+  }
+}
+
 /**
  * Generates a representation for an array of key => value pairs
  *
@@ -194,9 +212,14 @@
  * @param $url the url to query
  * @return an associative array of all headers returned
  */
-function getHeaders($url)
+function getHeaders($url, $timeout = 1)
 {
-  $response = http_head($url, array("timeout" => 1), $info);
+  $response = @http_head($url, array("timeout" => $timeout), $info);
+
+  if (array_key_exists('error', $info) && $info['error']) {
+    throw new RequestException($info);
+  }
+
   $headers = array();
   $response = trim($response);
   $str = explode("\n", $response);