[Alpine-info] URL "pushing"

[Joshua Miller]

While I only run alpine on one platform for the most part, I'm pretty
sure this can be easily handled by the config option "URL-Viewers".
Press:

MSC
Search (^W) for "URL-Viewers"
Press "?" for help.

If that doesn't work because you don't have a separate config
per-machine, and you have one remote config stored in imap, then you
can maintain an "exceptions" config on each machine to override the
URL-Viewers handling on each specific machine. For exceptions, press:

MSX

On the MS (main, settings) page, there's a short writeup on what the
exceptions are.

The above assumes you're running alpine locally on each machine. I
believe that is the expected norm. Running it remotely through ssh
works fine, but then your URL-Viewer should either be set to something
that works in the terminal (my favorite is w3m; others like links or
lynx) or something that will spawn a remote window (for example, using
DISPLAY and the local firefox ran over remote X11... though I realize
you said you don't have this capability).


I think the specific thing you're asking for is an edge case that
doesn't have a standard solution. It would be a nice thing to have,
but it'd require the install of some additional software on each
station you use (to handle the event), and in that case, why don't you
just run alpine locally? (note: I'm sure you have your reasons, but
it's a matter of what is more complex/difficult/etc - running alpine
locally and having the URL-Viewers option; running over ssh and
putting up with the limitations (cp/paste); running over ssh and using
standard X11 forwarding; or implementing an external protocol with a
script that runs on the central server that pushes a command to your
local machine where another script picks that up and fires up your
local platform-specific URL-Viewer). IE. what your asking for seems to
be imposing arbitrary limitations that purposefully exclude the easy
and very workable existing solutions.


Just my 2cents, but I'd suggest you store your mail within an IMAP
server. You can still use alpine on that central (far away) server to
read that mail, but that would also allow you to run alpine locally on
your machines (desktop/laptop/home/etc). Then you can take advantage
of the local URL-Viewers and similar settings. And if you happen to
use some random machine that happens to have an ssh client, you could
still use the central server with alpine to read your mail without the
firefox/whatever url viewer.

If you really want to sick with the centralized philosophy, then
having X11 and firefox on that central server would solve that
problem.


If you do find something that can solve your problem, please let me
know. Another solutions to add to the bag of tricks is always welcome.

Thanks,
--
Josh I.


On Tue, Dec 7, 2010 at 11:44 PM, Dan Mahoney, System Admin
<danm at prime.gushi.org> wrote:

> Hey all,

>

> I currently run alpine on a unix shell far away from my desktop.  I do not

> run X11 on my far-away shell server.

>

> My desktop runs OSX, but my home machine and my notebook are Windows.  My

> general attitude is that the only UI I care about is within the applications

> (firefox is generally the same across all platforms, and ssh apps are all

> the same once the session is established)

>

> I would like to have a nice, easy way for me to open urls, especially

> obnoxiously long ones that cannot be cut-and pasted because they scroll off

> the alpine pre-viewer confirmation window.

>

> The minimal answer: Write a url-shortener, like all the ones twitter has

> made so popular, and have the "viewer" app simply display the url on screen.

>

> Some terminal apps like SecureCRT "recognize" urls and make them easily

> clickable, others like iTerm do a far worse job.

>

> However, I'd like to have some kind of auto-launch method for this.  A

> daemon which could live on my local system, perhaps some kind of active

> bookmark.  I've also considered having alpine spawn a script which would ssh

> back into my mac (which is static and public) and run firefox with a command

> line arg, but that doesn't help once I go home from work.

>

> Has anyone else come up with a decent solution for this, a simple

> cross-system rpc-type demon?

>

> I would love to see some sort of standard emerge for this, with some kind of

> useful ANSI escape sequence that was rfc-defined, but that might just be

> dreaming.

>

> -Dan Mahoney

>

> --

>

> "When I'm lost, and confused, and trying to make a U-turn, nothing annoys

> me more than someone telling me to watch out for the tombstone!"

>

> "How often does that happen, Fab?"

>

> -David Feld & Tom Fabry, sometime in High School.

>

> --------Dan Mahoney--------

> Techie,  Sysadmin,  WebGeek

> Gushi on efnet/undernet IRC

> ICQ: 13735144   AIM: LarpGM

> Site:  http://www.gushi.org

> ---------------------------

>

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