Date: Fri, 28 Mar 1997 02:53:19 -0500 (EST)
From: Jude DaShiell <jdashiel AT eagle1 DOT eaglenet DOT com>
Sender: jdashiel AT eagle1 DOT eaglenet DOT com
To: "Colin W. Glenn" <cwg01 AT gnofn DOT org>
Cc: OpenDOS <opendos AT delorie DOT com>
Subject: Re: [opendos] Wishlist v2.0
In-Reply-To: <Pine.GSO.3.95.970327213457.7435D-100000@sparkie.gnofn.org>
Message-Id: <Pine.NXT.3.95.970328024220.19589C-100000@eagle1>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII


lynx at any rate supports .mailcap files and .mailcap files or
mail.cap files can certainly be used within the mime standard with metamail
to use whatever kind of graphics the user owns a viewer on which to view.
While it's true mail.cap files aren't the
easiest things for users to write, a mailcap evaluation utility
could have a catalog of viewer names within it along with graphics types each 
supports.  If a user gave the viewer to the utility and asked it to evaluate
the viewer, the utility for best results would have to start it
up and check the version to be sure of the right graphics support or
perhaps simply do an binary examination of the executible file and compare to
values and offsets known to be in the real package.  If those were found, the utility
might simply ask the user for the path of the viewer and update the mail.cap
file if the viewer actually was at the specified location.  If the location didn't
yet exist perhaps the user gets querried whether they want to make that
directory.
Yarn uses metamail and metamail is like f-prot free for non-commercial use.
I have a copy of all the documentation for that package in a .zip file in
ascii too.  Didn't come that way in original distribution but I fixed that.

jude <jdashiel AT eagle1 DOT eaglenet DOT com>