[Lynx-dev] Multi-line highlighting vs. the "Double Check"

[Andrew Belov]

Can anyone tell the reason behind the size check in
HText_trimHightext()?

            /*
             * Double check that we have a line pointer, and if so, copy
into
             * highlight text.
             */
            if (line_ptr2
                && line_ptr2->size) {

It traces back to 2.8.5dev.8 as a part of solution for hangs on empty
hidden links (the patch also introduced a more relevant exit condition a
few lines higher). Now this additional check conflicts with multi-line
links found in some quirky documents, e.g.:

<a href>Line 1<p>Line 2<p>Line 3</a>
<hr>
<a href>Line A<br>&nbsp;<br>Line B<br>&nbsp;<br>Line C</a>

Both links are first rendered interspersed by empty lines, but these
empty lines never become known to highlight code as a result of the
"Double Check", so the screen gets clobbered.

The easy solution (removing "&& line_ptr2->size") seems to fix this
nuisance, but considering that a more severe bug is involved I wouldn't
dare to propose this as a patch. Comments are welcome.