[PLASMA 5] Interested in a small dev project

[calcmandan]

Hi folks

I am a big proponent of the gopher protocol and have managed to transition most of my online usage to it. And while lynx is useful in surfing gopher sites on linux, it remains the only application developed today capable of using the protocol. the firefox browser has a plugin that mimics gopher by using a gopher proxy, but it comes across as standard https connections. On top of that, it doesn't always fully render gopher sites as they're designed. Lynx has limitations as being a text only browser, it won't display images inline or in the interface. Images have to be downloaded then opened in another client.

The last version of firefox that supported gopher was 3.6.28 released on October 13, 2015. I have downloaded the source tar ball from the mozilla ftp and extracted it. It's been so long since I've coded anything that i'm completely lost. I really don't know where to start.

What I would like to accomplish is to scrape out all the web features of that version of firefox, then call it (for lack of a better term) gopherfox. On top of that, I have to see what the license is going to allow me to do with regard to distribution. Naturally, it is my intent to make it completely FOSS but I also don''t know if mozilla org would like me to use the word 'fox' in the name. And of course, got to design a logo and will have to research the logo's license to see if they'll allow its likeness being used. Anyway.

I'm on here as a call for help to any coders with some spare time who can assist me on this endeavor. It really shouldn't take much work since most of it will be the removal of code.

I can create a project on sourceforge if people are willing to give me some assistance.

Off the top of my head, the following is my wishlist, there may be more that I'm not thinking about at the moment:

Remove all www features, cookie handling, and protocol support (they're deprecated and unsecure anyway)
Update dependent libraries to modern versions
Keep ftp
Keep file handling features (for downloadable images and files linked on gopher pages)
Keep bookmarking features
Connect address bar or search field to veronica 2, any existing jughead, archie, gopherpedia, gophereddit
Add it to the ubuntu repositories

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[Snowhog]

Even if you were to accomplish this, you will have a HUGE problem with the resulting Firefox, as you would be building it upon EXTREMELY OUTDATED CODE! It would have ZERO maintenance/security support updates.

[jlittle]

The gentoo world still uses lynx; while installing gentoo if you have to look up stuff lynx is the way. I suggest exploring gentoo forums.

IMO hacking firefox source for your purposes would be like dismantling an airliner to get parts for a car. The firefox project has gone through a rewrite (or several) because the old code base was becoming difficult to maintain, which implies using its source would be difficult.

[calcmandan]

The gentoo world still uses lynx; while installing gentoo if you have to look up stuff lynx is the way. I suggest exploring gentoo forums.

IMO hacking firefox source for your purposes would be like dismantling an airliner to get parts for a car. The firefox project has gone through a rewrite (or several) because the old code base was becoming difficult to maintain, which implies using its source would be difficult.

lynx is on the ubuntu repos. i use it all the time across all my computers at home.

I understand your metaphor though. I udnerstand it would be hard to garner interest in this project but im also looking for feedback.

I"m aware that the rewrites have occured in the past, and there's an ongoing effort (i think) to rewrite it in rust. But, my focus is on its ability to utilize the gopher protocol.

I think it would be easier to slim down a browser for a feature vs writing an entirely new one.

I asked a developer of a gopher client for android to port it to linux. He said he'd look into it but there's no guarantee he will.

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[calcmandan]

Even if you were to accomplish this, you will have a HUGE problem with the resulting Firefox, as you would be building it upon EXTREMELY OUTDATED CODE! It would have ZERO maintenance/security support updates.

Yeah so I want explore this. If i were to go through the code and remove 95% of its features, the resulting 5% would be relatively easy to maintain. Do you agree?

I haven't looked up any ms-isac alerts for firefox vulnerabilities. I suppose I'd have to research all vulnerabilities reported since 2015 having to do with the UI elements and other features and see how it would effect the project.

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[suplero]

Name it 'fire/water/ice gopher' to get past the fox people?

[calcmandan]

i found a few gopher projects for linux. one is a barely working gopher browser. it will need tons of dev work to bring it up. ive reached out to the dev to see if he needs help bringing features.

the other is an old old browser put in the snap store. no potential on it. im going to dump firefox unless i cant help the other guy.

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