Lynx version 2-5FM of 96-07-12

This is Lynx version 2-5FM of 96-07-12. "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) images of the source are issued.

Permission has been granted by Mr. Macrides for SCO to distribute this software in this form.

This package was built by Bela Lubkin of SCO, , 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.

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) or comp.unix.unixware.misc (for UnixWare 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 it is a newly discovered problem, you should 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 of 96-07-12.

I am providing the package in five separate archives:
  1. Lynx2-5FM-src.tar.gz is the source. It consists of a copy of Foteos' development tree of 07-12-96, 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 000-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.

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< 96/07/16