Re: lynx-dev lynx2-8-1/Linux patch for new VTs

[Heather Stern]

I ate the fortune cookie first, then read what Webmaster Jim wrote:
> On Sun, Mar 28, 1999 at 11:39:25PM +1200, Anthony James Garnock-Jones wrote:
> > Hi. I've been missing a feature that both Netscape and IE have - the
> > capability to open a new browser window to explore sublinks in. As I
> > run Lynx mostly on console on a Linux box, I decided to play with
> > implementing a "open new browser window" feature using the Linux
> > VT_??? ioctl()s.

I approve of the idea in concept, but doing it as a raw command limits
what OS it belongs on.
 
> I would be strongly *against* adding "features" that are OS-dependent.
> One of the strong points about Lynx is that it runs in so many
> environments. How will Win32, VMS, and other UNIX Lynx users benefit
> from this?

...and obviously he agrees :) Could it be convinced to spawn a child
instead, which might request its own VT under Linux or freeBSD (I'm not sure
if other BSD variants have this, but I'd heard it was a BSDism when Linux
did it), its own windowframes to paint under win32, child tasks subject
to standard job control under *ix flavors that have that, and, well, I 
just don't know how VMS does that sort of thing.  But single-execution
OS' may get shafted.   You don't want them keeping baggage they can't use;
lynx is good 'cuz it's fast, and the lighter it stays, the faster it is
(even without leaving the "heavy" script languages and image support out).

This sublink copy doesn't talk to the parent at all, it's just a completely
new process, right?  So, it won't share cookies or history with the original
(which TheTwo would).  That needs to be solved or it just isn't usable for
me... actaully I don't give a toot about cookies, but I use history *a lot*.

The next question is, how are we going to manage switching among them? On
job control systems, calls to that, MSwin has its task switcher, but for
VTs you'll have to read ps output or maybe the /proc filesystem where it
exists.  (I'd like to see even the Linux version support the older linuces,
/proc was added after commercial distributions started getting released,
so it really is so, that not everyone has it.)

If these were resolved, and the solution thereby made a bit more portable 
I'd highly favor this as an alternate way to handle frames and TARGET= hrefs. 

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->+<-  Heather Stern   Starshine Technical Services   address@hidden
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  It is not enough to have great qualities, we should also have the
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