Re: lynx-dev Re: STARTFILE patch

[Henry Nelson]

> > The patch (without doc changes) increases the discrepancy between 
> > documentation and reality, but I also question its usefulness. 

I sincerely believe that the default for STARTFILE should remain
"http://lynx.browser.org/";.
     1) It is the official (Well, as official as one can get.)
        site for Lynx.  Analogous to a new installation of MSIE
        sending you to Microsoft, I think the developers deserve
        to have a new installation of Lynx take a newcomer to
        the Lynx Homepage.  There is useful information on that
        page, including information on how to get help.

        Traditionally the STARTFILE has been a generic page to
        provide information about Lynx and setup entry points
        to learn about its use.  Before there was a home page,
        it was "http://www.nyu.edu/pages/wsn/subir/lynx.html";,
        and though it predates me, probably ukans before that.
.
     2) As Klaus has already pointed out, if you succeed in
        accessing lynx.browser.org, then you can be sure that
        Lynx is functional.  Just being able to access local
        files says nothing about getting onto the Web, where
        most people want to go.  Networking problems come hand
        in hand with Lynx.  It is true that lynx.browser.org
        is not the most stable or fast site around, but quite
        often as not it is not the source of problems.

     3) Rather than making "." the default, I could see it
        documented, in lynx.cfg and perhaps also PROBLEMS,
        as one step in the process of debugging network problems. 

> > > ! # *** NBB *** System administrators with ANONYMOUS USERS !!! 
> > > ! #   set STARTFILE to a REMOTE FILE by uncommenting the next line: 
> > > ! #STARTFILE:http://lynx.browser.org/ 
> > > ! #   and commenting out the default offered above; 
> > > ! #   you may, of course, choose to replace `lynx.browser.org' 
> > > ! #   with another remote/local file which you know to be safe. 

All of this discussion about public access and STARTFILE should be
removed from lynx.cfg.  In its present form, it is misleading.  More
important to ANONYMOUS is being aware of command line switches like
-validate and -homepage, knowing how to compile in STARTFILE, and
being sure Lynx reads the intended lynx.cfg in the first place.

__Henry