page which was displayed immediately before the current page.
@end table
+
@node History and Caching, , Between-page navigation, Navigation
@section History and Caching
from a given page. This means that, at least for links followed from menus
and text files, the inverse of @key{u} is actually just @key{RET}.
+
@node Bookmarks, Character encodings, Navigation, Top
@chapter Bookmarks
@node Character encodings, Encrypted connections, Bookmarks, Top
@chapter Character encodings
+Responses Elpher retrieves from servers are initially read as pure
+binary data. When the data is intended to be interpreted as textual (as
+determined by the type parameter of the gopher menu item or the gopher
+URL), this data needs to be @emph{decoded} into a sequence of
+characters. To do this properly requires knowledge of the encoding
+system used by whoever authored the document.
+
+Unfortunately gopher lacks a systematic way of acquiring this necessary
+information. Thus, the details of the coding system must be either inferred from the binary data,
+or must be specified by the user.
+
+By default, Elpher applies Emacs' built-in character encoding detection
+system to the full (undecoded) response data and uses this to attempt to
+convert it into a character string.
+(See @pxref{Recognize coding, Recognizing coding systems, ,emacs}.) While
+this approach can be okay, it is important to realise that its inference
+algorithm is extremely primitive and depends heavily on assumptions based
+on the language settings of your emacs system.
+
+The alternative is to explicitly set the coding system used for decoding
+using the following command:
+
+@table @asis
+@item @key{S} (@code{elpher-set-coding-system})
+Causes a elpher to prompt for a coding system to use for decoding
+future text. The @key{TAB} key can be used at this prompt to display a
+list of alternatives (which is extensive) and to autocomplete. An empty
+response will cause Elpher to return to its default autodetection
+behaviour.
+@end table
+
+Note that changing the coding system only affects newly loaded text.
+Thus, if text has already been decoded using an incorrect system, you
+will need to select the correct coding and then reload the text using
+@key{R}.
+
+
@node Encrypted connections, Customization, Character encodings, Top
@chapter Encrypted connections
+While RFC 1436 does not broach the topic of encryption at all, several
+modern gopher servers can serve content over encrypted connections,
+and a common choice for this is TLS.
+
+Elpher can retrieve selectors using Emacs' built-in TLS support which
+uses the GnuTLS library. (It is possible to build emacs without
+GnuTLS, in which case encryption is not supported.)
+
+To retrieve documents using TLS, Elpher's TLS mode must be enabled.
+This can be directly toggled using @key{T}, but note that just as with
+the character encoding, changing this mode only affects subsequent
+connections.
+
+Alternatively, TLS mode is @emph{automatically} enabled whenever
+gopher URLs starting with @code{gophers://} are followed.
+
+The mode is sticky, so it remains active until switched off.
+It can also be automatically switched off when a TLS connection fails.
+In this case Elpher will prompt for your confirmation to ensure that
+you can't accidentally make a non-TLS connection.
+
+
@node Customization, Index, Encrypted connections, Top
@chapter Customization
+
+
+
+@menu
+* Faces::
+* Other cutomizations::
+@end menu
+
+@node Faces, Other cutomizations, Customization, Customization
+@section Faces
+
+@node Other cutomizations, , Faces, Customization
+@section Other customizations
+
@node Index, , Customization, Top
@unnumbered Index
The Lambda Lab / projects / elpher.git / blobdiff