Re: lynx-dev Re: your mail

[pg]

In a recent note, T.E.Dickey said:

> Date: Sat, 8 Aug 1998 07:12:10 -0400 (EDT)
> >  
> > When I downloaded a file to my home directory via "Save to disk," the  
> > temp copy of the file lingered in the tempspace for the remainder of the 
> > Lynx session or until I shelled out and removed it manually.  At the end 
> > of the session Lynx did remove all remaining tempfiles it generated.  
> 
> I noticed this last week, will check.  I had a hunch - didn't investigate
> yet - that it didn't do it that way before I started working on the
> temp-file usage (i.e., that 2.7.1 would try harder to reuse a filename). 
> In any case I don't much like this behavior either, but there's some
> instances where the files are re-used (pages visited) and some where
> they should be discarded (downloaded files).
> 
I suspect one motivation for this is to support the ability to launch
a viewer in background.  For example, I have a .mailcap line which
says (approximately):

    application/x-foo;  xterm -e /bin/sh -c "foofilter <%s | less" &

The .mailcap line launches the viewer and returns immediately to lynx.
if lynx were to delete the temp-file immediately, the viewer might
see premature end of file.  In fact, I still have problems with such
viewers when the lynx session ends but the viewer continues to run.

-- gil