23.0.60; Allow ELinks in Emacs frames, or, Generalizing browse-url.el's browse-url-lynx-emacs

[Gwern Branwen]

RMS wrote:
> Would you like to send us a proposed patch?

Sure. Find attached 4 patches.

In order of application, they are:
1) browse-url-rm-grail.patch; this patch removes the Grail code. I understand 
it's nice to have compatibility with lots of browsers so people can use their 
favorites, but browse-url.el takes it a bit far by including support for 
browsers that haven't been updated in years or decades. Grail in particular 
hasn't been updated since something like 1999, doesn't run any more (I found 
one 2007 post complaining that the Sourceforge downloads had multiple 
significant and fatal errors), and probably no one uses.
2) browse-url-rm-ixi-mosaic.patch; ditto. I couldn't even find where to get 
IXI's version of Mosaic. It apparently got bought or released by SCO in 1995; 
besides echoes from browse-url.el's inclusion of it, I could find little to 
nothing in Google. I think it's safe to say that if anyone is still using it, 
they probably aren't in a position to be using Emacs 23 and up.
3) browse-url-rm-mmm.patch; like above. Last update in 1997 or so. The 
libraries this O'Caml browser uses seem to be similarly outdated.
4) browse-url-rm-generalize-and-add-text-browsers.patch; this is the important 
one. What I did was rename all the Lynx variables to text, pull the lynx 
specific parts out of browse-url-lynx-emacs, and made it more general. This was 
nice because it made it easier to add browse-url-links-emacs, 
browse-url-links2-emacs, etc. I've only lightly tested it, but it seems to work.

--
gwern
Masuda computer BRGE Elvis CCS FTS2000 satellite KGB P99 NAVELEXSYSSECENGCEN

browse-url-rm-grail.patch
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browse-url-rm-ixi-mosaic.patch
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browse-url-rm-mmm.patch
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browse-url-rm-generalize-and-add-text-browsers.patch
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