SSL support for Lynx 2.8.5pre.1 -- adapted from http://www.mentovai.com/lynx/ Lynx, in its unmodified form, will not allow you to make secure socket layer (SSL) connections. SSL is used for the secure transfer of information over the Internet. Many sites are now requiring SSL to ensure security for themselves and their users. With a version of Lynx modified to support SSL, Lynx users can now visit these sites with ease as well. The SSL configure option (--with-ssl) for Lynx provides the ability to make use of SSL over HTTP for secure access to web sites (HTTPS) and over NNTP for secure access to news servers (SNEWS). SSL is handled transparently, allowing users to continue accessing web sites and news services from within Lynx through the same interface for both secure and standard transfers. This is based on, and requires, the OpenSSL library. OpenSSL's distribution and use may be restricted by licenses and laws. For information on obtaining OpenSSL, as well as information on its distribution, see https://www.openssl.org/ The main distribution site is at https://openssl.org/source/ Lynx also has experimental support for GnuTLS (configure option --with-gnutls). For information on GnuTLS, see https://www.gnu.org/software/gnutls/ To test your version of Lynx for SSL support, try it out with an SSL site. Below are secure (https) pages which will load if your browser contains SSL support and you accept their certificates; they give you some information about the connection. https://www.gnutls.org:5555/ https://www2.ggn.net/cgi-bin/ssl Lynx will complain about the certificate, since the certificate presented is untrusted. You may accept this certificate to test your configuration, since it is a test, but it is a bad idea to blindly accept certificates from unknown websites if you are transmitting form data or files. You should review the document README.sslcerts for a detailed discussion of correct certificate handling possibilities and procedures in lynx. Users are reminded to check the laws and regulations about encryption software in their own countries.