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2.5 Other Configuration Settings

[Version 0.82]

Page Contents

2.5.1 Frames Support
2.5.2 Downloads directory
2.5.3 HTTP and FTP Proxies
2.5.4 Document Cache
2.5.5 Terminal Options (in Links.cfg)
2.5.6 Network Options

2.5.1 Frames Support

"Frames" refers to line drawing in Links (e.g. around menus). Out-of-the-box Links draws broken dashes (--) and pipes (|).

By switching to a frames mode, you will get solid lines drawn round menus, dialog boxes and other features.

Try using a one or more of the frames options in "Terminal options" to see what works

For example:

VT100 frames or VT100 frames and Use ^[[11m

Note: the development version of Links "links-current", also has "KOI8-R frames" support.

2.5.2 Downloads directory

This option is only configurable by directly editing your Links.cfg file.

Whenever you decide to download or save a document to your hard-drive, Links will produce your home directory as the default directory in the "Save file to" popup box. To change this default, add

download_dir Downloads

to your Links.cfg file, where "Downloads" is an existing sub-directory of your home directory.

Another way of changing this is to download or save a file to a specified directory, then use the menu Setup --> Save options to write the "last used directory" as the default downloads directory.

2.5.3 HTTP and FTP Proxies

You can get Links to work through the HTTP and FTP proxies given by your access provider.

Either use the menu system (Setup --> Network options) or add and edit these lines in your Links.cfg file:

http_proxy webproxy:8080
ftp_proxy fileproxy:8080

2.5.4 Document Cache

These settings can be altered using the menu system (Setup --> Cache) or by adding and/or editing the following lines to Links.cfg.

memory_cache_size 1024k: The maximum RAM given to all running copies of Links. To increase / decrease the cache size, just change the value in kilobytes in the menu system, e.g. 512K, 2048K, etc. or in kilobytes or megabytes in the Links.cfg file (e.g. 2M, 1M, 512k).

format_cache_size 5: The maximum number of formatted documents held in the cache.

2.5.5 Terminal Options (in Links.cfg)

When a user runs Links for the first time, the configuration file (.links.cfg) is created. If the user then changes any of the default settings for Terminal options, a "terminal2" entry is written to file.

Note: the variable name "terminal2" is used for Links versions > 0.80.

Here is a summary of the values and their meanings:


      terminal2 "xterm" 1 0 0 1 us-ascii
      ^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^^^^^^^^
          a        b    c d e f    g

         a: Links variable name

         b: quoted $TERM name.

         c: no frames  = 0

            vt100      = 1

            linux/ OS2 = 2

         d: Use ^[[11m = 1, default = 0 

         e: Restrict frames in cp850/852 = 1, default = 0

         f: No colour = 0

            Colour = 1

         g: Terminal character set (see "Character Sets" [2.2]).

2.5.6 Network Options

async_dns 1: When using asynchronous DNS lookups, links forks another process to do the lookup and doesn't block user interface while lookup is in progress.

If you want to trace links with GDB, turn it off, i.e. async_dns 0
max_connections 10: Number of simultaneous requests sent by Links.
max_connections_to_host 2: Number of simultaneous requests sent by Links to a single host.
retries 3: Number of tries when restarting failed request.
receive_timeout 120: Number of seconds to wait for a response before stopping request and restarting it.
unrestartable_receive_timeout 600: Number of seconds to wait for a response before stopping request when request can't be restarted.

User Reference Manual for Links Version 0.82

Revision Date: 2000-02-20

Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article is permitted in any medium, provided this notice is preserved.