lynx-dev Summary of changes

[Klaus Weide]

Sorry for being late with this.

Regarding

   Linkname: Lynx Release 2.8.3 - New features
        URL: http://lynx.isc.org/release/features.html

>     * add experimental file-upload, configured with --with-file-upload.

This is unusable in its current form, afaik.  If I'm wrong, I'm sure
someone will speak up.  Otherwise, please remove this from the "Summary".

>         + implement COLSPAN=0 and ROWSPAN=0 according to HTML 4.01 (not
>           HTML 4.0).

This is just a part of the TRST stuff.  It shouldn't be mentioned
separately, just remove it.

>         + modify HTFTP.c for better conformance with RFC959. Among
>           other things, one major purpose was ending the control
>           conversation cleanly, at least in the normal case, to get rid
>           of the "221 You could at least say goodbye.." responses from
>           wu-ftpd servers and resulting RST traffic.

This isn't quite true any more, since sending the "QUIT" was
removed because some servers had problems with it (the way
it was done).  So the "221 You could at least say goodbye.."
has been revived.  The "QUIT" could be sent differently to
avoid that, but anyway it's not a big problem.

So, change to:

|         + modify HTFTP.c for better conformance with RFC959,
|           avoid hanging when showing some directory listings
|           (especially from newer wu-ftpd servers).

>         + added support for accessing FTP directory listings in "dls"
>           style sent by some OS/2 servers.

This was wrong (my misunderstanding), strike "OS/2" making it
just "... sent [or: used] by some servers".

>         + changed default for PERSISTENT_COOKIES from TRUE to FALSE,
>           since persistent cookie support is now configured in by
>           default.

This needs more emphasis, since some users will need to make
changes in configuration.  Add something like

      Note: If you are using persisten cookies, i.e. a cookie
            file, you may have to change your lynx.cfg to
            explicitly enable PERSISTENT_COOKIES.

>         + add COOKIE_SAVE_FILE lynx.cfg and corresponding command-line
>           option, default it to /dev/null, which is recognized on all
>           systems.

This needs more emphasis, since some users will need to make
changes in configuration.  Add something like

     Note: If you use lynx non-interactively (with -dump or
           -source etc.) AND want new cookies from those
           invocations to be saved, you will have to update
           your script (or lynx.cfg file) to use this new
           option.  The good news is that saving of cookies
           should then also work with -source, whreas in
           previous versions it only worked with formatting
           -dump.
           

>         + reorganized invalid cookie checking / prompting to make it
>           easier to follow.

This was just an internal code change IIRC, (i.e., make *the code*
easier to follow), so it doesn't belong here.

>         + Allow KEYMAP directives in lynx.cfg of extended form
>               KEYMAP:lynxkey:lynxaction:editaction[:sel]
>           where lynxkey and lynxaction are as before, editaction is a
>           line-editor action like FORW, BACK, ERASE etc. and sel
>           selects the line-editor style to be affected (as a number,
>           starting with 1 for the Default Binding; or 0 for all styles
>           (the default); or a negative number -n meaning "all
>           line-editor styles except n").

Rather than trying to describe this exactly here, it would be
more useful to jsut direct those interested to the description
in lynx.cfg.

>         + add bindings for ^ and $ (like vi) to move the cursor to the
>           first and last link on the current line.

A btw.: '$' is used on VMS as a synonym for '!', see set_vms_keys().
So I assume that change does not apply to VMS (as far as '$' is
concerned.

>         + add key action DWIMHELP, to give some context-sensitive help.

make it

|         + add key action DWIMHELP, for some context-sensitive help,
|           by default mapped to F1, currently differs from HELP (by
|           default mapped to '?' and 'H') only in text input fields.

>    * use a temporary file instead of the normal .lynxrc file for saving
>      and restoring current settings in reload_read_cfg(). This avoids
>      unexpected side effects of lynx.cfg reloading (LYNXCFG://reload
>      action).

This is too technical.  How about just

|    * improved support for reloading lynx.cfg options in running
|      session, see LYNXCFG:/ pseudo-page (there's no a link to
|      it from the bottom of the forms-based 'O'ptions menu).
|      This is still experimental.

>    * revived dired "install" functionality, more or less as it was
>      (apparently) originally meant to be used, but with various checks
>      added.

Either remove because of obscurity, or add pointer to
samples/installdirs.html file.


In general, some more of the details could be eliminated
or abbreviated.

    Klaus