LYNX-DEV Bug Report: complex URL thru firewall

[Glenn E. Thobe]

Dear Lynx developers-

I would like to report a Lynx bug.  It occurs only when with a certain type
of URL when accessed via a proxy Web server from behind a firewall.  The
error does not occur when Lynx is run from a host with full Internet access.

The following invocation of Lynx from the shell command line works correctly:

    $ lynx 
'http://search.boston.com/globe/nat/cgi-bin/waisgate.cgi?WAISdocID=5541725109+3+0+0&WAISaction=retrieve'

However, the same URL fails in context as a hypertext link in an HTML
document.  When I "click" on the HREF in an HTML document, I get only 
an almost blank page with the title "WAIS Document Retrieval".  

Of course, in practice I click on the HREF first, and when the link fails, 
I determine the URL of the failed hyperlink and then access it from the 
shell command line in another X window.  (I have also tried unsuccessfully 
to access it using the "g" command.)

To try to reproduce this bug, connect to the Boston Globe Web site and 
follow the links as necessary to display any news article.

    <LI><a href="http://www.boston.com/globe/text/texthome.htm";>Boston Globe - 
text version</a>

I am running Lynx 2.7 (versions as old as 2.3 fail in the same way) on a 
Sun 3/80 with SunOS 4.1.1_U1 compiled with gcc 2.7.2 and a PPP link to an 
ISP with a firewall via a proxy server (http_proxy=http://www.lafn.org:80/).
Note that the problem does not occur when Lynx is invoked from a host which
has a direct connection to the Internet instead of a firewall.

I would have expected that Lynx would use exactly the same machinery to 
access a URL regardless of whether it occurs in context in an HTML document 
or on the shell command line.  I can only conclude that it doesn't.

Here is the "=" display for the example URL:
===========================================================================
                               Information about the current document (p1 of 2)

                     You have reached the Information Page

Lynx Version 2.7

File that you are currently viewing

   Linkname: The Boston Globe Online: National/Foreign
        URL:
          http://search.boston.com/globe/nat/cgi-bin/waisgate.cgi?WAISdoc
          ID=5541725109+3+0+0&WAISaction=retrieve
     Server: Netscape-Commerce/1.12
       Date: Tuesday, 25-Feb-97 07:25:01 GMT
   Owner(s): None
       size: 94 lines
       mode: normal
===========================================================================

I would be pleased if someone would reproduce this bug and queue it for
remedial action.

-Glenn Thobe <address@hidden>
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