Arch Linux User Repository

@firegem git is now in makedepends.

I also changed the URL to use the master branch instead of version-0.14.

From my attempt of using it, there currently seems to be a problem with background color, so you may want to locally change it to tag=v0.15.0 or similar for now.

This needs git as a makedep or it fails to compile in a chroot.

I've added the architectures you suggested.

arch=(i686 x86_64 armv6h armv7h aarch64)

I havent tested yet on a (arm32) Raspberry Pi Zero or 2.But I downloaded the precompiled binary and,

file elinks-0.14.1-linux-armhf-bin/elinks

elinks-0.14.1-linux-armhf-bin/elinks: ELF 32-bit LSB executable, ARM, EABI5 version 1 (SYSV), statically linked, stripped

So it seems it's a arm "universal" binary compiled for 32bit.

... I tested this on a Pi 4 and it seems to run on aarch64include arm...

So it seems, it's also made to run or arm 64 bits then. I didnt know that.

This would make a great "elinks-bin" PKGBUILD to use as a browser on low spec Raspberry Pis with Arch Linux arm. Except if it wasnt for that damned "javascript included" .... :-)

@ferreum

Thanks for your comment and clarifying things !

... javascript is a security disaster...
... But it doesn't look like the developers think that way

So I was wrong then. Sorry, I'm not a developer. I just randomly read this in the repo and assumed it was the project direction

...Just checked the master, I see JavaScript is currently disabled...

So, the main developer, rkd77, is still aiming at some sort of javascript support then. And if so, I assume the official Arch package will just follow that right ? And so the Arch official "elinks" package will support javascript.

In that case, what I wanted to make sure is what I'll be getting in the future if I use this, "elinks-git" PKGBUILD. In case the developer "stuffs" javascript support by default, do these options in the PKGBUILD:

              --without-spidermonkey \
              --disable-sm-scripting \

guarantee that my "elinks-git" wont be able to execute any javascript at all in my computer ?

And if that is true, may I suggest that the PKGBUILD description be edited from:

 An advanced and well-established feature-rich text mode web browser. Git version

to

 An advanced and well-established feature-rich text mode web browser. Git version with Javascript disabled by default.

or something similar

I think it's that "infamous" ld linker thingy error again:

Yes it's been like that on master for a while, and there haven't been any changes to that branch for all that time. I've compared the 0.14.1 release tarball with the elinks-1.14 branch and couldn't tell if that's where the source comes from, because it looked like a different state of the project. I didn't look through everything though.

elinks-0.14 compiles fine, so I've switched to that branch for now (currently version 0.14.1).

include arm

I tested this on a Pi 4 and it seems to run on aarch64--but I only made a quick test with default config. I've added the architectures you suggested.

I needed to add a autoreconf -ifv to make it work, which I've also committed to the PKGBUILD. I have no experience with autoconf, but to me it looks like the generated scripts in the projects haven't been updated since 2004 and they fail some detection on recent systems.

Get rid once and for all for everything javascript related.

I'd welcome it--javascript is a security disaster even for established browsers, and putting it into a small project like a terminal browser is calling for trouble. But it doesn't look like the developers think that way: the getelementbyid branch is currently receiving very active development focused on JS support, see https://github.com/rkd77/elinks/commits/getlementbyid (currently https://github.com/rkd77/elinks/commits/e674a7c9d12c5ce0b1b4016477c19572ecdf516e ).

Compilation failed.

It happened before and @sgerwk, https://aur.archlinux.org/account/sgerwk, was able to troubleshoot.

I think it's that "infamous" ld linker thingy error again:

/usr/bin/ld: lib.o: in function `render_document':
(.text+0x302a9): undefined reference to `render_source_document_cxx'
collect2: error: ld returned 1 exit status
make[1]: *** [Makefile:41: elinks] Error 1
make[1]: Leaving directory '/dev/shm/aurydesty/elinks-git/src/elinks/src'
make: *** [Makefile.lib:268: all-recursive] Error 1
==> ERROR: A failure occurred in build().
    Aborting...
error making: elinks-git

A question about javascript (evil/good ?) to all commenters here.

Arch's official package with their PKGBUILD and CHANGES: https://archlinux.org/packages/community/x86_64/elinks/

I just noticed that Arch's official is still stuck in the 0.14.0 January 2021 version. But, upstream, https://github.com/rkd77/elinks/releases has released 0.14.1 in May 2021

  • Disable spidermonkey by default #85
  • Show error message about libgcrypt-config. #86
  • off by two. #88
  • Check NULL. #99
  • fix error message when no previous search was performed #100
  • alert when moving to the next match of a failed search #101
  • include unistd.h and errno.h to define safe_read() #107

Notice the "Disabble spidermonkey" there. Me personally, very happy. I think, if I'm not mistaken, that this is the intent and direction of upstream elinks. Get rid once and for all for everything javascript related.

I noticed this January 2021 comment on the official arch package, https://github.com/archlinux/svntogit-community/commit/cfcec8aeaabb240577b3bb1dd17c44be0c9f97fc#diff-3e341d2d9c67be01819b25b25d5e53ea3cdf3a38d28846cda85a195eb9b7203a

# todo: make it work with a modern 'js' package
# (upstream has no interest in writing that)

And this, elinks-git PKGBUILD has this difference:

  2               --without-lzma \
  3               --without-bzlib \
  4               --without-spidermonkey \
  5               --disable-sm-scripting \
  6               --enable-exmode

And @sgerwk "felinks-python", even has brotli and zstd support, https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/felinks-python/

Does this mean that the Arch official packager "insist" or "hope" for elinks to keep trying to support any kind of buggy incomplete javascript or spidermonkey support ?

Is this the reason why the official elinks hasnt been updated ?

I for one cannot understand why would one even want to hear about javascript in a cli browser. There are other superb options for that.

What is your opinion ?

Question about support for arm architecture

Upstream, https://github.com/rkd77/elinks/releases has released 0.14.1 in May 2021. It's cool that upstream now even provide binaries for arm and i386.

Assets 6
elinks-0.14.1-linux-armhf-bin.tar.xz 1.45 MB
elinks-0.14.1-linux-i386-bin.tar.xz 1.75 MB
elinks-0.14.1-linux-x64-bin.tar.xz 1.71 MB
elinks-0.14.1.tar.xz 1.73 MB

So you can run it on the Raspberry Pi or old 32bit computers. Think of Arch Linux 32bit, and their tireless work. Marvelous. So this, "elinks-git", or even a "elinks-bin" could be updated to include arm:

Change,

arch=("i686" "x86_64")

to, not sure if

arch=("i686" "x86_64" " xyz arm something " )

I always forget what exactly "armhf" is. I now that

arch=('x86_64' 'aarch64' 'armv6h' 'armv7h')

Means, support for :

Raspberry Pi 4 'aarch64' Raspberry Pi 3 ??????? Raspberry Pi 2 'armv7h' Raspberry Pi 0 'armv6h'

And that usually, if well done, only two binaries are needed. One for arm64 (Pi4 and Pi3) and one for all the other arm32. If it runs on the Raspberry Pi Zero, it runs on the 1 and 2 also.

@OliverLew Thanks for the notice, I changed it to the github repository.

It seems that Arch's official package is already using the Github repo:

https://github.com/archlinux/svntogit-community/commit/2731b8ee5b3793e8edc1bed3888cc3b60c3cbbf9#diff-3e341d2d9c67be01819b25b25d5e53ea3cdf3a38d28846cda85a195eb9b7203a

Should this AUR package be updated / flagged out-of-date?