Re: LYNX-DEV Can lynx speak POP/SMTP ?

[Heather Stern]

I ate the fortune cookie first, then read what David Woolley wrote:
> > I have a question about Email.
> > Is it possible to send/recieve Email by using "lynx" ?
> 
> Lynx has more integrated email sending than MSIE.  None of Lynx, MSIE or
> Navigator have receive capability (these functions are provided by
> bundled programs in the GUI cases, but not by the browser).
> 
> > I mean can lynx speak POP/SMTP ?
> 
> Not the same question.  Lynx uses an external mail sending program,
> roughly the same concept as the MAPI API in Microsoft-speak.

And not really an answer that helps him, I think more detail may be in
order.  

It gets kind of easy down here in the bits and bytes, to say "lynx doesn't
do that".  But to the end user, it's all a matter of what it looks like,
not what it is.  Lynx is optimized for web browsing, but it looks like it
mails to mailto: URLs without a hitch.

Behind the scenes, we have a compile time option for where sendmail (or the
local smtp tool) is stored, and users should have their $EDITOR preset.
When they're needed, they're used.  Voila, "built in" outbound mail.

Inbound is not so obvious, but the lynx.cfg claims it can be done:
# If CHECKMAIL is set to TRUE, the user will be informed (via a statusline
# message) about the existence of any unread mail at startup of Lynx, and
# will get statusline messages if subsequent new mail arrives.  If a jumps
# file with a lynxprog URL for invoking mail is available, or your html
# pages include an mail launch file URL, the user thereby can access mail
# and read the messages.  The checks and statusline reports will not be
# performed if Lynx has been invoked with the -restrictions=mail switch.

So, there are a few things an admin needs to do to his lynx setup to make 
inbound (POP) available to an end user, apparently "within" lynx.  
 1.  Set CHECKMAIL in lynx.cfg so users will know that mail has arrived
 2.  Create a jumpfile with a valid lynxprog URL 
 3.  Enable such lynxprog to work, making sure permissions on the program
     and applicable lynx.cfg options allow it
 4.  Maybe if you're feeling extra helpful, before compile, go into the 
     area where CHECKMAIL's notice string is stored, and adjust it so it 
     mentions how to invoke the lynxprog.  Ex: 
  Press 'j' and type 'mail' to get your New Mail 

You'd be effectively a shell level deeper when you do it, not really doing 
it with lynx itself (we're a web browser, not a mailer! :>), but it will 
*feel* like it's from lynx.  At most sites, that's probably more than 
sufficient for most users.

Instead of the jumpfile, you could create a system local index file and 
reference that.  There are better features built in to protect exec'able 
tasks in the jumps, but it's one key press to the 'i'ndex too, and if you
really need your tools described, you can just create a nearly normal HTML
page with the necessary lynxprog URLs.

  . | .   Heather Stern                  |         address@hidden
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