Re: LYNX-DEV META tag problem, lynx 2.6

[Klaus Weide]

On Thu, 14 Nov 1996, Mark Westergaard wrote:

> I'm having a problem with lynx 2.6 and caching.  The platform is AIX 4.1.4
> and I've applied the latest 2-6update.zip.  I noticed that a document that
> uses a META tag to keep it from being cached, was not being reloaded when
> it was revisited.  The same document (with small change noted below) 
> reloads properly with lynx 2.5.  Here's a simple cgi script named
> "date.cgi" that demonstrates my problem: 
> 
>   #!/bin/sh
>   echo "Content-type: text/html"
>   echo
>   echo "<meta http-equiv='Cache-Control' content='no-cache'>"
>   /bin/date
>   echo "<a href=date.cgi>again!</a>"

Since you are doing this with CGI, and have direct control over the
HTTP headers being sent, you should not have to use <META> at all.
So you test script could become:

>   #!/bin/sh
>   echo "Content-type: text/html"
>   echo "Cache-Control: no-cache"
>   echo
>   /bin/date
>   echo "<a href=date.cgi>again!</a>"

(But that will only work with Lynx2.6.  Anyway, back to your question:)
 
> I can follow the link forward or backward and get new output with lynx
> 2.5.  With lynx 2.6 it reloads when I go forward, but not when I go
> backward (unless I exceed the value of the -cache option). I believe I
> built 2.6 with the same options and settings as 2.5.  We use lynx on a
> menu-based system and one of the screens has to be reloaded when you
> return to it.  Does anybody have any idea where I may have gone wrong? 

I think you only mistake was to expect that 2.6 would show exactly the
same behavior as 2.5, in an area that is not well-defined...

You should read the relevant section in the Lynx Users Guide for 2.6 -
search for "META", or "Cache-Control".  What you are seeing is the
expected behavior.  You will find a way to change it to what you want
in the Users Guide (but that will only work if you have control over
the configurations of all Lynx clients).

A browser is not required to always flush pages from its memory when
it encounters "no-cache" - The HTTP 1.1 spec explicitly discusses some
differences between "caches" and "history lists".


   Klaus


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