1
2 Lynx README file
3
4Lynx Version 2.8.7 is the latest release (July 2009).
5See the CHANGES file for a complete record of all changes and bug fixes.
6New releases are announced on the lynx-dev mailing list (see below).
7
8FOR REAL NOVICES
9
10To use this package, you need a compiler & a bit of experience
11at very simple programming. If you just want something which will work
12`out-of-the-box', you can get pre-compiled versions of Lynx
13by following the links from <URL: http://lynx.isc.org/> ;
14for DOS or Windows, goto <URL: http://www.fdisk.com/doslynx/lynxport.htm>.
15
16WHAT IS LYNX?
17
18 Lynx is a fully-featured World Wide Web (WWW) client for users running
19 cursor-addressable, character-cell display devices such as vt100 terminals,
20 vt100 emulators running on Windows 95/NT or Macintoshes, or any other
21 character-cell display. It will display Hypertext Markup Language (HTML)
22 documents containing links to files on the local system, as well as files on
23 remote systems running http, gopher, ftp, wais, nntp, finger, or cso/ph/qi
24 servers, and services accessible via logins to telnet, tn3270 or rlogin
25 accounts. Current versions of Lynx run on Unix, VMS, Windows95/NT, 386DOS
26 and OS/2 EMX.
27
28 Lynx can be used to access information on the WWW, or to establish
29 information systems intended primarily for local access. Lynx has been
30 used to build several Campus Wide Information Systems (CWIS). Lynx can
31 also be used to build systems isolated within a single LAN.
32
33HOW TO GET LYNX
34
35 For the latest release of Lynx goto:
36 <URL: http://lynx.isc.org/release>;
37 <URL: ftp://lynx.isc.org/release>;
38 the latest development version is at:
39 <URL: http://lynx.isc.org/current>.
40 The Lynx homepage is <URL: http://lynx.isc.org/>.
41 The on-line help page (enter `h') has links to many useful things.
42
43LICENSE
44
45 Lynx is distributed under the GNU General Public License, version 2 (GPLv2)
46 without restrictions on usage or redistribution. The Lynx copyright
47 statement, "COPYHEADER", and GNU GPL, "COPYING", are included in the
48 top-level directory of the distribution. Lynx is supported by the Lynx
49 user community, an entirely volunteer (and unofficial) organization.
50
51 Certain portions of the Lynx source distribution were originally
52 created by CERN and have been modified during the development of
53 Lynx. See WWW/FreeofCharge.html for copyright info regarding CERN
54 products used in Lynx.
55
56 Note that Lynx is not self-contained; typically it is built with a
57 variety of add-on libraries, including those for compression, IPv6,
58 SOCKS and SSL support.
59
60YEAR 2000 COMPLIANCE
61
62 We believe Lynx works properly for the Year 2000 issues, since it does
63 not store dates in 2-digit form. Since it must communicate with a wide
64 range of web servers, it interprets dates in a variety of formats. In
65 particular, if Lynx receives a date with a 2-digit year, it assumes that
66 values less than 70 are in the range 2000-2069.
67
68INSTALLING LYNX
69
70 To install Lynx, follow the steps in the INSTALLATION file, which is
71 located in the top directory of the source distribution.
72
73DOCUMENTATION
74
75 A users guide is included in this distribution along with a man page
76 for Unix systems and a help file for VMS systems. All documentation is
77 contained in the top directory and the docs, samples and lynx_help
78 subdirectories.
79
80 While running Lynx, type 'h', 'H', or '?' to invoke the help menu
81 system. From the help menu you may access several useful documents
82 pertaining to Lynx and the World Wide Web. The most important of
83 these is the Lynx Users Guide. By default, Lynx will use the Lynx
84 Enhanced Pages, which includes http links for help and FAQs concerning
85 Lynx. It is recommended that you install your own help menu system at
86 your site in order to lessen the load on http servers. This also will
87 allow you to customize the help menu system for your site and greatly
88 speed up access for those using Lynx over a slow connection.
89
90INSTALLING THE DOCUMENTATION
91
92 For Unix and related systems which support the autoconf configure script,
93 the help menu system is installed by the "make install-help" command.
94
95 For other systems (such as VMS), copy COPYHEADER and COPYING into the
96 lynx_help/ subdirectory. Then copy the lynx_help subdirectory to a public
97 place on your system, or into your $HOME directory if you are a single
98 user. Finally, edit the lynx.cfg file so that the HELPFILE line is
99 defined as follows:
100
101 HELPFILE:file://localhost/[public_path]/lynx_help/lynx_help_main.html
102
103 where [public_path] is the absolute path to the lynx_help directory.
104 Customizing the help menu system is just a matter of editing a set of
105 HTML files. Additional information about installing and customizing
106 the help file set is available at <URL:http://www.irm.nara.kindai.ac.jp/
107 lynxdev/README.help>.
108
109INSTALLING LYNX
110
111 To install Lynx, follow the steps in the INSTALLATION file, which is
112 located in the top directory of the source distribution. Win32 users
113 who need pre-compiled distributions should visit the site
114 <URL:http://www.fdisk.com/doslynx/lynxport.htm>.
115
116PROBLEMS
117
118 If you experience problems configuring, compiling or installing Lynx,
119 please read Section VI. "General installation instructions" in the
120 INSTALLATION file. Instructions are given there for reporting your
121 problem to the "lynx-dev" mailing list, which is frequented by experienced
122 Lynx users.
123
124LYNX-DEV MAILING LIST
125
126 To subscribe to lynx-dev, send email to
127 <URL: mailto:lynx-dev-request@nongnu.org>
128 with "subscribe" for a subject line.
129
130 If you wish to unsubscribe from lynx-dev, send email to
131 <URL: mailto:lynx-dev-request@nongnu.org>
132 with "unsubscribe" for a subject line.
133
134 Any messages you wish to post should be sent to
135 <URL: mailto:lynx-dev@nongnu.org>.
136 PLEASE use the lynx-dev list, NOT private email to the developers,
137 for questions or discussion about Lynx, or contributions of patches.
138 Patches should use the unified diff format (diff -u), which can be
139 generated by building the target, "make lynx.patch" after unpacking
140 a pristine copy of the source into a subdirectory called "orig".
141
142 You need not be subscribed to the lynx-dev list in order to post. If
143 you post without subscribing, though, you should read replies to your
144 questions or comments in the archive since more often than not nobody
145 will send a carbon copy to you. View the archives at:
146
147 "lynx-dev Mailing list archives"
148 <URL:http://mail.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/lynx-dev/>
149