Lynx version 2-5FM of 96-07-19

This is Lynx version 2.5FM of 96-07-19 as built for SCO Skunkware '96.

"2.5FM" is a tag which does not indicate a specific version. Continuing Lynx development is being done by Foteos Macrides of the Worcester Foundation for Biomedical Research. During development, frequent (often nightly) snapshots of the source are issued.

This package was built by Bela Lubkin of SCO, (belal@sco.com), for inclusion in the SCO Skunkware '96 CD-ROM. I chose to use the very latest developmental version of Lynx because it has many bug fixes and corrections over the "official" Lynx 2.5 release, and because it builds correctly on SCO operating systems, while 2.5 does not.

It is important to understand that this package was built from a developmental release of the software. Responsibility for the precise details of this package lies with SCO and the person who built the package (Bela Lubkin, (belal@sco.com) rather than with the Lynx development team.

If you have problems with this distribution of Lynx, please take the following steps:

  1. If it is a packaging problem or otherwise appears to be specific to this pre-compiled distribution, or to the SCO operating system under which you are using it, post a USENET News article to the newsgroup comp.unix.sco.misc (for OpenServer operating systems), comp.unix.unixware.misc (for UnixWare operating systems), or comp.unix.xenix.sco (for Xenix operating systems). Be specific about where you obtained the distribution and about the problem(s) experienced.
  2. If it appears to be a generic problem with this version of Lynx (not related to the operating system or to the way I built it), many resource are available to you. Go to the web page:

    http://www.nyu.edu/pages/wsn/subir/lynx.html

    and follow the appropriate links. Two of the most important resources are the archives of the Lynx Developer's mailing list, and the CHANGES file from the most recent developmental version of Lynx. Check these to determine whether your problem has already been solved. If at all possible, you should also obtain the latest Lynx sources (or newer binaries) and confirm that the problem you are experiencing has not been fixed. Most problems are fixed quickly. It is not polite to bother the developers about problems they have already fixed and passed by.

    If it is a newly discovered problem, it may be appropriate to contact the Lynx Developer's mailing list. Information about the list is also found off of the above web page. When corresponding to that list, be sure to identify the software you are running as "Lynx 2.5FM (SCO 07-19-96)".

The SCO Skunkware 96 Lynx 2.5FM offering consists of a custom installable SCO OpenServer 5 distribution as well as the following six separate archives (of which you need two to perform a binary install, or three to install binaries + source):
  1. Lynx2-5FM-src.tar.gz is the source. It consists of a copy of Foteos' development tree of 07-19-96, patched to correct certain pathnames to better fit the SCO OpenServer and SCO Skunkware environments. The patch itself is included in the source archive, under the name 001-SKUNK-PATCH, and can be reversed by using GNU patch (also provided under SCO OpenServer Release 5 as patch(C)).
  2. Lynx2-5FM-cfg.tar.gz contains Lynx configuration files. It is organized so that it may be extracted from the root directory of an SCO system, and will place the appropriate files in the appropriate places, by running: 
           cd /
       gzcat Lynx2-5FM-cfg.tar.gz | tar xf -
  3. Lynx2-5FM-bin-odt3.tar.gz contains a COFF executable binary to be run under SCO Open Desktop/Open Server 2.0 or 3.0, or SCO Unix 3.2v4.0 through 3.2v4.2 with the corresponding version of SCO TCP/IP.

    This binary was constructed using the SCO OpenServer Release 5 USL C compiler with the ODT 3.0 headers and libraries. The ODT 3.0 MicroSoft cc fails to compile Lynx correctly and I didn't have gcc handy; it was less trouble to get USL cc running on my 3.0 system. [Don't try this at home...]

  4. Lynx2-5FM-bin-osr5.tar.gz contains an ELF executable binary to be run under SCO OpenServer Release 5.0.0 or later.

    This binary was constructed using the SCO OpenServer Release 5 standard C compiler and development environment.

  5. Lynx2-5FM-bin-uw21.tar.gz contains an ELF executable binary to be run under SCO UnixWare 2.1. It may work on earlier releases (almost certainly all 2.x releases), but I have not tested it.

    This binary was constructed using the SCO UnixWare 2.1 standard compiler and development environment.

  6. Lynx2-5FM-bin-x234.tar.gz contains an x.out executable binary to be run under SCO Xenix 2.3.4 with SCO TCP/IP for Xenix 1.2.0. It may work on earlier releases, but I have not tested it.

    This binary was constructed using a very bizarre mixture of the OpenServer Release 5 USL compiler, the Xenix 2.3.4 headers and libraries, weird patches to Lynx, spit, and glue. It probably can't be duplicated; you'll probably have to live with whatever bugs it has. I am not making the source modifications available, though I may later check some of them into the ongoing development tree to make it slightly easier to repeat this feat.

You must be aware of several paths used by the Lynx binaries. The Lynx configuration files are placed under /local/lib/lynx (you may use symbolic links to point this directory elsewhere). These are: 
  /local/lib/lynx/lynx.cfg     -- global Lynx configuration file
  /local/lib/lynx/mime.types   -- maps MIME extensions
  /local/lib/lynx/mailcap      -- describes helper applications used by Lynx
  /local/lib/lynx/lynx_help/*  -- hierarchy of Lynx help files
Lynx is highly configurable through the above files, each of which contains internal documentation.

Lynx also uses several external binaries. Many of these are part of the standard SCO operating system software, and will be found in their standard locations. Aside from those, Lynx may require the following binaries: 

  /local/bin/gzip
  /local/bin/zip
  /local/bin/unzip
Of these, only gzip should be used in standard browsing activity (and then only if an HTTP server offers to transmit web pages in gzip-compressed format). Again, you may use symbolic links to point these names elsewhere. Each of the required binaries is available on SCO Skunkware versions 2, 5, and 96.

Enjoy this software!

>Bela Lubkin< 96/07/26