Re: [Lynx-dev] Lynx 2.8.6

[Doug Kaufman]

On Thu, 12 Oct 2006, Jeffrey D. Benton wrote:

> Thanks for the Lynx version with a built-in installer.  I've got it running 
> now.
> 
> I would like to set up a limited version of Lynx for myself and
> possibly for other users. I guess you might call me a potential
> administrator. I would like to permanently disable downloads--images,
> files, programs, etc.
> 
> By "permanently" I mean for that particular downloaded/installed copy
> of Lynx. In my ideal situation, downloads would be impossible except by
> using a different browser, or if Lynx were the only browser on the PC,
> then by installing a different browser via CD-ROM. If an intelligent
> user can merely alter settings in order to enable downloads, that is not
> what I'm looking for.
> 
> By download I mean transfer anything from the Internet to any of the
> local directories A:\, C:\, D:\ etc. I am using Windows 98SE. If your
> answer would become different for other operating systems, then we will
> address those questions as they come up. Right now I am only dealing
> with Windows 98SE computers.

Perhaps someone else on the list knows of a way, but I don't think
that what you want is possible with lynx running on Win98SE. You can
build a lynx binary that cannot access ftp sites, but I don't know of
a way to build lynx to be unable to save files to disk. Since Win98SE
doesn't really have security according to user, any configuration that
you do can be overcome by a knowledgeable user. You can certainly make
it difficult to save files to disk using "security by obscurity" by
changing the default key for downloads, setting the default directory
for saving to /dev/null, etc., but anyone who has write access to the
disk on the machine can bypass this by creating their own lynx.cfg
file.
                          Doug


> In addition to Lynx, Opera 9.0 Kiosk Mode also has the potential to
> meet my needs. However, there seem to be more unanswered questions and
> potential problems with Opera than there would seem to be with Lynx.
> Just my guess.
> 
>   ----- Original Message ----- 
>   From: Doug Kaufman 
>   To: Jeffrey D. Benton 
>   Cc: address@hidden 
>   Sent: Thursday, October 12, 2006 07:34 AM
>   Subject: Re: [Lynx-dev] Lynx 2.8.6
> 
> 
>   On Wed, 11 Oct 2006, Jeffrey D. Benton wrote:
> 
>   > I can get Lynx to download and unzip but I can't get it to
>   > run. In my last attempt I downloaded lynx2.8.6rel.1.zip at
>   > http://www.pervalidus.net/cygwin/lynx/. I have no software programming
>   > knowledge so I need it to download and run automatically.
>   > 
>   > Second question: Can Lynx be configured to prevent the download
>   > of software programs--perhaps by filtering certain types of file
>   > extensions such as .exe?
> 
>   There have been a couple answers to this, but I think they missed the
>   point. This is a Windows program that comes without an installer. You
>   need to manually install it. The first thing is to unzip it with
>   settings that preserve the directory structure. If all the files are in
>   one directory, you need to remove that and try again. It comes with
>   settings for being in "D:\Program Files\Lynx", so the easiest (if you
>   have a D: drive), is to unzip under "D:\Program Files".  Otherwise, pick
>   a directory and unzip the file. Then use a text editor to edit the file
>   "lynx.cfg", changing the path to match where you put the file. Then
>   right-click on the lynx.exe file and create a "shortcut". You can drag
>   or cut and paste the shortcut to your desktop. You can change the
>   properties so that it starts in fullscreen. You can also put a copy of
>   the shortcut in the appropriate directory to add it to the program list
>   under START.
> 
>   The answer to the second question depends on what you are trying to do.
>   There seems to be some confusion as to what lynx is. It is a text mode
>   browser and doesn't download anything automatically. When you say you
>   want to prevent the download of certain files, are you talking about
>   running it yourself, or are you trying to set up limited versions of
>   lynx for other users (i.e. Are you the Administrator?)? Unless you let
>   us know what platform you are running on and what you really want to
>   prevent, it is hard to give advice.
> 
>   If you just want a program for yourself on a Windows machine, it may be
>   easier to download a version that comes with an installer, such as
>   
> "http://prdownloads.sourceforge.jp/lynx-win32-pata/21607/Lynx286dev18TH.exe";.

-- 
Doug Kaufman
Internet: address@hidden