Re: LYNX-DEV What is the difference?

[Michael Talbot-Wilson]

In message <address@hidden> you write:

> > being new to Lynx, I am a bit confused with the 3 versions, normal. 
> > curses & slang; can somebody tell me what is the difference between them? 
> It's in the top-level files (readme/configure stuff).  Briefly (again ;-),
> 
>       normal
>               is whatever is installed as "curses"; usually this is the
>               vendor's curses if you're building on something like Solaris,
>               it may be bsd 4.4 curses if you're installing on Linux.
>               is the standard name for the screen package.
> 
>       ncurses
>               is a clone of SVr4 (e.g., Solaris) curses.  There's an option
>               to configure by that name since it may not be installed as
>               "curses".  SVr4 curses is basically the standard on platforms
>               that you buy, rather than build.

Um.. ncurses is pretty standard on Linux.
> 
>       slang
>               is a screen package that (for our purposes) emulates bits &
>               pieces of bsd curses with parts borrowed from some flavors
>               of System V curses.  (There's some advantages in it, but
>               since it does not follow any standard, it's best classified
>               as experimental).

Probably the advantages are what the person who made the enquiry was
actually interested in.  Slang seems to allow more flexible colour
configuration, and more colour options.  There is run-time interpretation
of colour specifications in the config file.

I think there are knowledgeable LYNX-DEV list members who could tell you
a lot more.  E.g. the "lang" part suggests a high-level API.

-- Mike
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