Re: LYNX-DEV HTTPS & Lynx?

[David Woolley]

> 
> Does lynx support https:// ?
...
> Do I need to set some config variable and re-make it?

FAQ.

No.  You need to get your senator to re-make the US law to abolish software 
patents and to permit the export of (strong) encryption software.

SSL Lynx can't be distributed in the USA because the RSA patent restricts 
commercial distribution and the GPL doesn't permit such a restriction.
The way the RSA patent is enforced means that a US binary cannot even be
distributed outside of the USA within the terms of the GPL.

It can't be distributed from the USA because that would be arms smuggling,
which I believe is a felony in US criminal law.  (It is also not clear that
there is any way of applying such restrictions under the GPL.)

See the Lynx web site to get information on specific workarounds for Lynx.
See the O'Reilly Apache book for lots of background on the legal issues around
SSL (although not the GPL ones, as Apache has more like a Berkeley licence).

(Incidentally, I've never yet hit an https link with Lynx - most of them are
associated with web shopping sites, and these are often generally Lynx 
unfriendly.)