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Diffstat (limited to 'doc/protocols.md')
| -rw-r--r-- | doc/protocols.md | 53 |
1 files changed, 28 insertions, 25 deletions
diff --git a/doc/protocols.md b/doc/protocols.md index e927d01e..9abb5265 100644 --- a/doc/protocols.md +++ b/doc/protocols.md @@ -120,10 +120,6 @@ wishes; see below). `file:` loads a file from the local filesystem. In case of directories, it shows the directory listing like the FTP protocol does. -`about:` contains informational pages about the browser. At the time of -writing, the following pages are available: `about:chawan`, `about:blank` -and `about:license`. - `man:`, `man-k:` and `man-l:` are wrappers around the commands `man`, `man -k` and `man -l`. These look up man pages using `/usr/bin/man` and turn on-page references into links. A wrapper command `mancha` also exists; this has an @@ -132,37 +128,44 @@ it has been rewritten in Nim (and therefore no longer depends on Perl either). ## Internal schemes: cgi-bin:, stream:, cache:, data: -Four internal protocols exist: `cgi-bin:`, `stream:`, `cache:` and `data:`. -These are the basic building blocks for the implementation of every protocol -mentioned above; for this reason, these can *not* be replaced, and are -implemented in the main browser binary. +Five internal protocols exist: `cgi-bin:`, `stream:`, `cache:`, +`data:` and `about:`. These are the basic building blocks for the +implementation of every protocol mentioned above; for this reason, these +can *not* be replaced, and are implemented in the main browser binary. -`cgi-bin:` executes a local CGI script. This scheme is used for the actual -implementation of the non-internal protocols mentioned above. Local CGI scripts -can also be used to implement wrappers of other programs inside Chawan -(e.g. dictionaries). +`cgi-bin:` executes a local CGI script. This scheme is used for the +actual implementation of the non-internal protocols mentioned above. +Local CGI scripts can also be used to implement wrappers of other +programs inside Chawan (e.g. dictionaries). -`stream:` is used for reading in streams returned by external programs or passed -to Chawan via standard input. It differs from `cgi-bin:` in that it does not -cooperate with the external process, and that the loader does not keep track -of where the stream originally comes from. Therefore it is suitable for reading -in the output of mailcap entries, or for turning stdin into a URL. +`stream:` is used for streams returned by external programs. It differs +from `cgi-bin:` in that it does not cooperate with the external process, +and that the loader does not keep track of where the stream originally +comes from. Therefore it is suitable for reading in the output of +mailcap entries, or for turning stdin into a URL. -Since Chawan does not keep track of the origin of `stream:` URLs, it is not -possible to reload them. (For that matter, reloading stdin does not make much -sense anyway.) To support rewinding and "view source", the output of `stream:`'s -is stored in a temporary file until the buffer is discarded. +It is not possible to reload `stream:` URLs. To support rewinding and +"view source", the output of `stream:`'s is stored in a cache file until +the buffer is discarded. `cache:` is not something an end user would normally see; it's used for -rewinding or re-interpreting streams already downloaded. Note that this is not a -real cache; files are deterministically loaded from the "cache" upon certain -actions, and from the network upon others, but neither is used as a fallback -to the other. +rewinding or re-interpreting streams already downloaded. + +Caching works differently than in most other browsers; files are +deterministically loaded from the cache upon certain actions, and from +the network upon others, but neither is used as a fallback to the other. `data:` decodes a data URL as defined in RFC 2397. This used to be a CGI module, but has been moved back into the loader process because these URLs can get so long that they no longer fit into the environment. +`about:` is inside the loader to allow for an implementation of the +download list panel. It should be turned into a CGI module once the +loader gets RPC capabilities. + +The following about pages are available: `about:chawan`, `about:blank`, +`about:license`, `about:download`. + ## Custom protocols Chawan is protocol-agnostic. This means that the `cha` binary itself does not |