Re: A vote for BOTH userdefs.h and lynx.cfg [was Re: LYNX-DEV help: finally!]

[Philip Webb]

980309 Nelson Henry Eric wrote (TD commented too): 
> I feel a wind saying do away with  userdefs.h
> I put in a strong vote to NOT do away with the POSSIBILITY
> of making all defines in  userdefs.h .
> Personally (that's the point, everyone has their own way of doing things),
> I make all changes necessary that I can possibly make in  userdefs.h .
> I do this not to harangue my users; quite the opposite, it is to give
> a working default to them until they have had time to learn Lynx.
> If you have 100 users who all have to define every one of these,
> it seems very inefficient to me.
 
again again: Henry's "personally" is quite understandable
as a representative of those installing Lynx for a user community,
BUT there's also quite a few others -- eg me -- who install Lynx
for their own (personal) use & hence have a different point of view.
the installation process & documentation should reflect that distinction,
but due to history has tended to take the sysadmin's viewpoint as basic.

my natural way of doing things -- which may change as i learn more --
is to compile in the minimum, leaving plenty of room for change in  lynx.cfg ,
which is my very own version for me alone.  to accommodate both viewpoints
it seems simplest to have only security items in  userdefs.h
-- they're only for sysadmins -- , putting some basic choices in switches
for  configure  -- eg the path to  lynx.cfg  : these should NOT default
to the sysadmins' version  /usr/lib  or whatever -- & leaving the rest
to be decided in  lynx.cfg .  Henry's  100  users can be best served
by having a central version of  lynx.cfg  (determined by Henry),
with some advice to them that they can override it thro'  -cfg  at run-time.

clearly, the introduction of  configure  & (dare i say it?) the absence
of long-time gurus Fote & Klaus -- now in the Lynx Hall of Fame --
gives us an opportunity to clean up the way in which Lynx is presented
& the way in which the documentation is organised.
but that's something to discuss around 2-8-1 or 2-9
(when Fote & hopefully Klaus may be back to take part).

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