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LYNX FILE MANAGEMENT SUPPORT
New facilities have been added since Lynx 2-3 to provide support
for managing files on the local filesystem. These facilities allow
the user to delete, rename, and re-locate files and/or directories and
to create and/or upload new files and directories. This will mainly
be of interest to systems administrators who are interested in running
lynx as a restricted shell in order to provide controlled access to a
range of services (as in a freenet). It may also be of use at sites
where some of the users are experiencing difficulty with the raw Unix
interface.
Support for the new facilities is enabled at compile time by defining
the variable `DIRED_SUPPORT' in the `MCFLAGS' list in the Lynx
Makefile, and in the WWW makefile `CommonMakefile'. Runtime support
for disabling the facilities is provided by way of the restriction
`dired_support' which can be set on the command line for a particular
session.
The Makefile also provides additional compile time flags for
controlling the extent and application of the file management
facilities; specifically, `OK_TAR' which enables support for creating
and expanding tar archives, `OK_GZIP' which enables use of gzip to
compress and decompress files, and `OK_OVERRIDE' which allows access
to the file management facilities directly from the keyboard in
addition to access by way of a file management menu.
There are two possible modes of operation; the first in which a single
file management menu is invoked via the `f', or `F' key; the second,
in which the more often used facilities are made available directly
from the keyboard in addition to access via the menu. The second
method provides a much better user interface but requires re-mapping
some of the keys from their standard lynx interpretation, temporarily
when file management mode is in effect. For example, if OK_OVERRIDE is
defined at compile-time, then the line at the bottom of the screen, in
novice mode, will be
C)reate D)ownload E)dit F)ull menu M)odify R)emove T)ag U)pload
rather than the standard second noviceline,
H)elp O)ptions P)rint G)o M)ain screen Q)uit /=search [delete]=history list
when the user is browsing part of the file system. If OK_OVERRIDE is not
defined then all access to file management functionality must be by way
of the menu. The only exception is that the facility to tag files for
subsequent removal and/or re-location is always available directly from
the keyboard using `t', and `T'.
This is a first release of the file management enhancements and suggestions
for improvements are welcome. Among the enhancements which are currently
being considered are facilities for changing file access attributes, and
a facility for listing and extracting part of an archive.
In order to use the file management facilities you may either point
the program at a directory on the command line or point the program at
an html file which contains a link of the following form:
<a href="file://localhost/~/"> Manage Personal Directory ? </a>
where the anchor `file://localhost/~/' implies a reference to
/home/username. Because the `~/' in a file URL is converted to
`/home/username' regardless of origin, these facilities also work when
the anchor shown above is served from an http server as well. In
either case the reference is to files on the local system and not
files in the domain of the server.
By default the file listing is in standard Unix mixed format, but you
may use the Options menu to select WWW `directories first' format, or
`files first' format if you prefer.
Rick Mallett, Carleton University, Ottawa Canada. (rmallett@ccs.carleton.ca)
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