Re: lynx-dev Lynx bug : automatic following of links?

[Klaus Weide]

On Wed, 30 Jun 1999, Hans Ecke wrote:

> So I guess I just have bad luck? Can you recommand a strategy to deal with
> malformed links like the one above?

The best strategy is to use a newer lynx.  If you cannot install it
yourself, bother the people who installed the older version...

You could try to use a different terminal emulator (although in this
case it wasn't really the emulator's fault but lynx's.).

In your specific case the 8-bit byte sent to the terminal was hex 9B,
for VT220-like terminals that means the same thing as 'ESC Z', which
elicits an identification response from the terminal.  For me, the
Linux console responds to that with 'ESC [ ? 6 c', and your trace
file is consistent with you getting the same response.

Lynx would try to collect chars until it has a recognized key escape
sequence, it gives up on the '?' (and effectively drops the first
three chars), then the '6' is interpreted as a new key, then the 'c'.
You got '6' acting as ACTIVATE because you have Numbers Act As Arrows
enabled.  If you had link numbering on instead, you wouldn't get this
extremely annoying interpretation, but only a less harmful one.

You can also set User mode back to Novice or Intermediate, at least
temporarily, if you get into this situation.


     Klaus