For a description of Lynx please read the README file. Lynx Installation guide. Last Updated February 1997 UNIX & VMS Step 1a. Most of the variables that you are likely to change are in the userdefs.h file. There are a few that you must change or verify, and a few more that you will probably want to change. The variables that must be changed are marked as such in the userdefs.h file. Just edit it and the changes should be straight forward. You also should check LYMessages_en.h for tailoring the Lynx statusline prompts, messages and warnings to requirements of your site. NOTE: Many of the variables in userdefs.h are now configurable in the lynx.cfg file. Please read the lynx.cfg file as well. Also see the example mime.types, mailcap and jumps files in the samples subdirectory. UNIX & VMS Step 1b. (optional) Set up local printers and downloaders in the lynx.cfg file. (see lynx.cfg for details) UNIX & VMS Step 1c. (optional) If your system requires the PASV FTP code instead of the standard PORT FTP code (e.g., to deal with a firewall) then edit WWW/Library/Implementation/HTFTP.c and comment out line 43 like so: /* #define LISTEN /* @@@@ Test LJM */ On Unix you can define NOPORT in the top Makefile instead of changing HTFTP.c UNIX Step 1d. (WAIS support is built into Lynx for VMS, skip to step 1e) Adding Direct WAIS support. Get the freeWAIS distribution from: ftp://ftp.cnidr.org/pub/NIDR.tools/freewais and compile it. The compile process will create some libraries, you will need wais.a and client.a. Edit the Makefile in the top level directory and add the library locations under the DIRECT WAIS ACCESS heading. Edit the Makefile for the WWW Library in the WWW/Library/Implementation/CommonMakefile to make the WAIS.c sources in the library. If everything goes well you should be able to make and have direct WAIS access. UNIX & VMS Step 1e. Adding NEWS support. To set your site's NTTP server as the default host for news reading and posting via Lynx, set the environment variable NNTPSERVER so that it points to its Internet address (see Step 5). For news posting ability to be enabled in Lynx, in userdefs.h (and optionally in lynx.cfg) the NEWS_POSTING symbol must be defined to TRUE. Also define LYNX_SIG_FILE in usersdefs.h or lynx.cfg so that it points to users' signature files for appending to posted messages. For the Organization: header in news postings, Lynx checks for an ORGANIZATION or NEWS_ORGANIZATION environment variable. On Unix, Lynx also checks for an /etc/organization file. UNIX Step 1f. (Sun systems) Sun resolv library. On Sun systems you may need to define RESOLVLIB in the top Makefile to enable access to remote hosts. See the comments in the Makefile and PROBLEMS file for more information. VMS Step 1f. Downloading binary files. Lynx must handle all IO as streams, and on VMS, output files are always created with Stream_LF format via the C RTL's fopen(). The file headers indicate Implied Carriage Control, even when the transfer was in binary mode, which can confuse downloading software and cause corruption of the file contents. To deal with this, you should define the symbol USE_FIXED_RECORDS as TRUE in userdefs.h and/or lynx.cfg. This will instruct Lynx to correct the header information to indicate FIXED 512 records, with No Implied Carriage Control. If Lynx fails to do the conversion (because the file wasn't mapped to a binary MIME type) you can execute FIXED512.COM externally to correct the header information. The command file uses Joe Meadow's FILE utility, or the SET FILE/ATTRIBUTES command on current versions of VMS, to modify the headers. See the comments in FIXED512.COM, userdefs.h and lynx.cfg for more information. UNIX Step 2. VMS users skip to 'VMS step 2' Check the top level Makefile for any site-specific definitions you require or desire. Then, you should be ready to compile! If you type "make" with no arguments you will see a list of supported systems. If your system type IS listed you just need to type "make SYSTEM_TYPE". For instance, if you are running under IBM's RS/6000 AIX 3.2 you would just type "make aix32". If you were running Ultrix you would type "make ultrix". If you are on a SUN workstation and do not have 'gcc' you may change 'gcc' to '/usr/5bin/cc' in the Makefile If you are on a system that is not listed in the makefile it may be more difficult. The first thing you should try is just "make generic", this will compile with the "fancy_curses" option, and will give a much nicer screen display. If it doesn't compile or if the screen display looks strange (real strange), try compiling with the "low_curses" option. Edit the Makefile and remove the '-DFANCY_CURSES' definition under the 'generic:' entry. There may be some compatibility problems on some systems, but we don't know what they might be at this point. If you are running on a currently unsupported system please contact us via the lynx-dev email list (see RELEASE_STATEMENT). If there are any problems we will try to fix them as soon as possible. VMS step 2. Lynx uses the VMS port of gzip for uncompressing streams which have Content-Encoding headers indicated compression with gzip or the Unix compress. If you do not have gzip installed on your system you can get it from ftp://ftp.wku.edu/ in the fileserv directory. The command Lynx uses to uncompress on VMS is "gzip -d". If you are using the SOCKETSHR library, read SOCKETSHR.announce and make sure you have defined SOCKETSHR and SOCKETSHR_LIBRARY as explained therein. A "build.com" and "build-slang.com" script for building Lynx with curses or slang is in the top level directory. All you have to do is type "@build" or "@build-slang" and answer its prompt for your system's TCP-IP software. Current choices are: MULTINET (default) UCX WIN_TCP CMU_TCP SOCKETSHR_TCP TCPWARE It will autosense whether you have VAXC, DECC or GNUC on VAX or AXP and build appropriately. If a WWWLib already exists for that TCP-IP software, it will prompt you for whether you want to rebuild it. If you want to build a WWWLib separately, you can type "@libmake.com" with your default directory set to [.WWW.Library.vms] instead doing it via "build.com" in the top directory. You may need to modify "build-slang.com", as described in its header, so that it can find slang.olb on your system. If you have both DECC and VAXC, it will use DECC to benefit from the newer and more efficient memory management functions. (optional compilation method) If you have and want to use MMS, read the header of descrip.mms in the top directory and be sure you include the appropriate macro definitions when you invoke it: $ MMS /Macro = (MULTINET=1) for VAXC - MultiNet $ MMS /Macro = (WIN_TCP=1) for VAXC - Wollongong TCP/IP $ MMS /Macro = (UCX=1) for VAXC - UCX $ MMS /Macro = (CMU_TCP=1) for VAXC - OpenCMU TCP/IP $ MMS /Macro = (SOCKETSHR_TCP=1) for VAXC - SOCKETSHR/NETLIB $ MMS /Macro = (TCPWARE=1) for VAXC - TCPWare TCP/IP $ MMS /Macro = (MULTINET=1, DEC_C=1) for DECC - MultiNet $ MMS /Macro = (WIN_TCP=1, DEC_C=1) for DECC - Wollongong TCP/IP $ MMS /Macro = (UCX=1, DEC_C=1) for DECC - UCX $ MMS /Macro = (CMU_TCP=1, DEC_C=1) for DECC - OpenCMU TCP/IP $ MMS /Macro = (SOCKETSHR_TCP=1,DEC_C=1) for DECC - SOCKETSHR/NETLIB $ MMS /Macro = (TCPWARE=1, DEC_C=1) for DECC - TCPWare TCP/IP $ MMS /Macro = (MULTINET=1, GNU_C=1) for GNUC - MultiNet $ MMS /Macro = (WIN_TCP=1, GNU_C=1) for GNUC - Wollongong TCP/IP $ MMS /Macro = (UCX=1, GNU_C=1) for GNUC - UCX $ MMS /Macro = (CMU_TCP=1, GNU_C=1) for GNUC - OpenCMU TCP/IP $ MMS /Macro = (SOCKETSHR_TCP=1,GNU_C=1) for GNUC - SOCKETSHR/NETLIB $ MMS /Macro = (TCPWARE=1, GNU_C=1) for GNUC - TCPWare TCP/IP If you just type "MMS" it will default to the MULTINET and VAXC configuration. MMS will build the WWW library and Lynx sources, and link the executable. However, not all of the header dependencies are specified. If you are not a developer, and need a clean build, you should use build.com instead of the MMS utility. If you want SOCKS support on VMS, you must add SOCKS as a compilation definition, and the SOCKS library to the link command. However, instead of SOCKSifying Lynx for use behind a firewall, you are better off if you build Lynx normally, and set up Lynx to use a proxy server (see below). You instead can SOCKSify the proxy server, and it will handle all clients, not just Lynx. UNIX Step 3. Go ahead and test it out with the about_lynx/about_lynx.html file. You shouldn't need to install Lynx to test it. Once you are satisfied that it works, go ahead and install it. VERY IMPORTANT!!!!! If you are setting up an anonymous account with Lynx you are strongly advised to use the -anonymous command line option. If you do not use this option, users may be able to gain access to all readable files on your machine. ALSO NOTE that many implementations of telnetd allow passing of environment variables, which might be used by unscrupulous people to modify the environment in anonymous accounts. When making Lynx and Web access publicly available via anonymous accounts intended to run Lynx captively, be sure the wrapper uses the -cfg switch and specifies the startfile, rather than relying on the LYNX_CFG, LYNX_CFG_FILE, or WWW_HOME variables. VMS Step 3. Go ahead and test it out with the [.about_lynx]about_lynx.html file. You shouldn't need to install Lynx to test it. Once you are satisfied that it works, go ahead and install it. VERY IMPORTANT!!!!! If you are setting up an anonymous account with Lynx you are strongly advised to use the -anonymous command line option. If you do not use this option, users will be able to gain access to all readable files on your machine. ALSO NOTE that some implementations of telnet allow passing of environment variables, which might be used by unscrupulous people to modify the environment in anonymous accounts. When making Lynx and Web access publicly available via anonymous accounts intended to run Lynx captively, be sure the wrapper uses the -cfg switch and specifies the startfile, rather than relying on the LYNX_CFG, LYNX_CFG_FILE, or WWW_HOME variables. UNIX Step 4. (Installation) Lynx is very easy to install, if you want Lynx installed anywhere besides "/usr/local/bin", with the man files in "/usr/man/man1", you need to edit the Makefile and change the "exec" and "doc" defines. Otherwise just "su" to root and type "make install" and make will copy "lynx", "lynx.cfg" and "lynx.1" to the specified directories. Those are the only two files necessary to run Lynx. lynx.1 isn't really necessary, but it should be available. lynx.cfg isn't absolutely necessary either but is the only way to configure printers and downloaders (and uploaders if DIRED_SUPPORT is implemented), so it is highly recommended. Also check out the mailcaps, mime.types and jumps file samples in the samples directory. VMS Step 4. You need to have the executable in a public place, make it accessible, define it as a foreign command, and copy lynx.cfg to "Lynx_Dir". Look at lynx.com in the samples directory as a model for installing Lynx. Also check out the mailcaps, mime.types and jumps file samples in the samples directory. To include lynx.hlp in the system HELP library, use the command: $ library/replace sys$help:helplib.hlb lynx.hlp UNIX and VMS Step 5. Lynx uses some environment variables to regulate it's behavior. The variable "NNTPSERVER" is used to specify the host which will be used as the default for news URLs. UNIX setenv NNTPSERVER "news.server.dom" VMS define/system NNTPSERVER "news.server.dom" The environment variables "ORGANIZATION" or "NEWS_ORGANIZATION", if set, will be used for the Organization: header in news postings. The environment variable "LYNX_CFG", if set, will override the default location and name of the global configuration file (lynx.cfg) that was defined via the constant "LYNX_CFG_FILE" in userdefs.h. See userdefs.h for more information. The environment variable "LYNX_TEMP_SPACE", if set, will override the default path prefix for temporary files that was defined via the constant "TEMP_SPACE" in userdefs.h. See userdefs.h for more information. The environment variable "LYNX_SAVE_SPACE", if set, will override the default path prefix for files saved to disk that was defined via the constant "SAVE_SPACE" in lynx.cfg. See lynx.cfg for more information. The variable "WWW_HOME", if set, will override the default startup URL specified in any of the configuration files. Lynx still supports use of gateway servers, with the servers specified via the variables "WWW_access_GATEWAY", where "access" is lower case and can be "http", "ftp", "gopher" or "wais". Most of the gateway servers have been discontinued, but "http://www.w3.org:8001" is available for wais searches (note that you do not include a terminal '/' for gateways, but do for proxies; see below). Lynx version 2.2 and beyond supports the use of proxy servers that can act as firewall gateways and caching servers. They are preferable to the older gateway servers. Each protocol used by Lynx can be mapped separately using PROTOCOL_proxy environment variables of the form: UNIX setenv http_proxy "http://some.server.dom:port/" setenv https_proxy "http://some.server.dom:port/" setenv ftp_proxy "http://some.server.dom:port/" setenv gopher_proxy "http://some.server.dom:port/" setenv news_proxy "http://some.server.dom:port/" setenv newspost_proxy "http://some.server.dom:port/" setenv newsreply_proxy "http://some.server.dom:port/" setenv snews_proxy "http://some.server.dom:port/" setenv snewspost_proxy "http://some.server.dom:port/" setenv snewsreply_proxy "http://some.server.dom:port/" setenv nntp_proxy "http://some.server.dom:port/" setenv wais_proxy "http://some.server.dom:port/" setenv finger_proxy "http://some.server.dom:port/" setenv cso_proxy "http://some.server.dom:port/" VMS define "http_proxy" "http://some.server.dom:port/" define "https_proxy" "http://some.server.dom:port/" define "ftp_proxy" "http://some.server.dom:port/" define "gopher_proxy" "http://some.server.dom:port/" define "news_proxy" "http://some.server.dom:port/" define "newspost_proxy" "http://some.server.dom:port/" define "newsreply_proxy" "http://some.server.dom:port/" define "snews_proxy" "http://some.server.dom:port/" define "snewspost_proxy" "http://some.server.dom:port/" define "snewsreply_proxy" "http://some.server.dom:port/" define "nntp_proxy" "http://some.server.dom:port/" define "wais_proxy" "http://some.server.dom:port/" define "finger_proxy" "http://some.server.dom:port/" define "cso_proxy" "http://some.server.dom:port/" (Encase *BOTH* strings in double-quotes to maintain lower case for the PROTOCOL_proxy variable and for the http access type; include /system if you want proxying for all clients on your system.) If you wish to override the use of a proxy server for specific hosts or entire domains you may use the "no_proxy" environment variable. Here is an example use of "no_proxy": UNIX setenv no_proxy "host.domain.dom, domain1.dom, domain2" VMS define "no_proxy" "host.domain.dom, domain1.dom, domain2" You can include a port number in the no_proxy list to override use of a proxy server for the host accessed via that port, but not via other ports. For example, if you use "host.domain.dom:119" and/or "host.domain.dom:210", then news (port 119) URLs and/or any wais (port 210) searches on that host would be excluded, but http, ftp, and gopher services (if normally proxied) would still be included, as would any news or wais services on other hosts. If you wish to override the use of a proxy server completely (i.e., globally override any existing proxy variables), set the value of "no_proxy" to "*". Note that Lynx treats file URLs on the local host as requests for direct access to the file, and does not attempt ftp if that fails. It treats both ftp URLs and file URLs on remote hosts as ftp URLs, and does not attempt direct file access for either. If ftp URLs are being proxied, file URLs on a remote host will be converted to ftp URLs before submission by Lynx to the proxy server, so no special procedure for inducing the proxy server to handle them is required. Other WWW clients may require that the http server's configuration file have "Map file:* ftp:*" in it to perform that conversion. The proxy and no_proxy variables also can be set at run time via lynx.cfg. Copies of the Lynx online help are included in the lynx_help subdirectory tree and should be made accessible in response to the Lynx 'h'elp command by defining HELPFILE in userdefs.h and/or lynx.cfg to an appropriate file://localhost/path URL. UNIX & VMS Step 6. (Hopefully Optional) If something doesn't work, or you can't get it to compile at all, or you can't figure out what one of the defines means, or if you just want to make a comment, send an email message to the Lynx-Dev mailing list (see the README file about subscribing to Lynx-Dev). Until Lynx has been ported to all the world's operating systems, we expect there will be some compatibility problems, but we'll do our best to help you.