Re: lynx-dev PATCH for ENABLE_RC

[Thomas Dickey]

On Sun, Jun 15, 2003 at 01:19:49PM -0700, Doug Kaufman wrote:
 
> The answer to question c) is "no". The comments in the OPTIONS page do
> not reflect the default behavior. Specifically, the comments there were
> changed between 2.8.4dev.20 and 2.8.4dev.21 to state that the bookmarks
> file and execution links settings would not be saved, but it appears
> that the default behavior was not altered at that time; only the
> comments were.
> 
> I believe that question d) is the crux of the matter. Now that ENABLE_RC
> is configurable, what is the most appropriate set of defaults? I would

Barring errors, I did choose the defaults according to the existing
behavior.

> hold that the main purpose of the lynxrc file is to permanently save
> changes made from the OPTIONS page. There are currently multiple other
> settings saved there which can only be altered by directly editing the
> lynxrc file. Does it make sense to have two different files (lynx.cfg
> and the lynxrc file) having settings for the same action, each of which
> must be hand edited, with one overriding the other? What is the purpose
> of having those settings in lynx.cfg which are automatically overridden
> by the settings in the lynxrc file? For example, why even have a setting
> for COOKIE_FILE in lynx.cfg (except for an initial setting before a
> lynxrc file is saved). If we are to continue this behavior, shouldn't
> we put a warning in lynx.cfg for these settings that the values will
> likely be overriden by the lynxrc settings. There is currently a warning

I hadn't considered that - probably should (at least a "see also ENABLE_RC"
line for each of the related items).

> for the bookmark file, but not really for the other settings in this
> category. I just don't see the point of competing files for the settings
> except for those settings we are changing from the OPTIONS page. Is
> there a category of user who has access only to the lynxrc file but not
> a lynx.cfg file? If so, it might be reasonable to have those options

actually there are still some users who access lynx via a public service
(probably not many).  So I was keeping that situation in mind.

> in the lynxrc file, but now that ENABLE_RC is configurable, whoever
> is setting up lynx on that system can enable those options. For other
> users, the current system just seems to add confusion.
> 
> After review of the above, I would like to retract my recommendation
> that the default bookmark file be taken out of lynxrc, especially since
> the other bookmarks of a multibookmark setup would still be there. I
> would suggest, however, that the "(!)" be removed from the display on
> the OPTIONS page so as to correspond to the true default. I still
> support my other suggestions for change.

The "(!)" is automatically generated though (based on the actual setting
of ENABLE_RC).  Perhaps there's some missing logic to handle certain cases
(a bug to investigate/fix).

-- 
Thomas E. Dickey <address@hidden>
http://invisible-island.net
ftp://invisible-island.net

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