Automating proxy configuration across multiple applications without plaintext password

More generally than the post described here: https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/752484/using-bash-functionality-in-rc-files?noredirect=1#comment1432155_752484 I would like to set an appropriate proxy configuration for all/multiple applications including but not limited to: snap/apt/cpan/pip/wget/curl. Moreover, I would like to avoid having my proxy password displayed anywhere in plaintext. How/is it possible to achieve this? [This post](https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/279670/how-can-i-specify-a-system-wide-proxy-without-giving-my-password-in-plaintext) implies that every system process will be configured for proxy via /etc/environment. I have not had such success (see EDIT), so I am currently under the assumption that all proxy configurations must be made per application. Regarding the [linked post](https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/266808/avoiding-plain-text-password-in-http-proxy/266934#266934) , and the use of secret-tool, it seems to me that this assumes the file defining the proxy configuration(s) can evaluate bash expressions (which hasn't been my experience with the .curlrc/.wgetrc files). EDIT: With the contents of etc/environment equal to: http_proxy=http://user:pass@proxy.com:80 https_proxy=http://user:pass@proxy.com:80 and the contents of my .curlrc file equal to: proxy=http://user:pass@proxy.com:80 I can run: curl https://unix.stackexchange.com/posts/752654/edit --output test.html % Total % Received % Xferd Average Speed Time Time Time Current Dload Upload Total Spent Left Speed 100 70115 0 70115 0 0 99k 0 --:--:-- --:--:-- --:--:-- 99k which generates test.html as expected. Without changing the contents of /etc/environment and removing the .curlrc file, the download hangs indefinitely: curl https://unix.stackexchange.com/posts/752654/edit --output test.html % Total % Received % Xferd Average Speed Time Time Time Current Dload Upload Total Spent Left Speed 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 --:--:-- 0:00:25 --:--:-- 0 I'm using RHEL on WSL.