WWWOFFLE - World Wide Web Offline Explorer - Version 2.6b ========================================================= The WWWOFFLE programs simplify World Wide Web browsing from computers that use intermittent (dial-up) connections to the internet. Description ----------- The WWWOFFLE server is a proxy web server with special features for use with dial-up internet links. This means that it is possible to browse web pages and read them without having to remain connected. Basic Features - Caching of HTTP, FTP and finger protocols. - Allows the 'GET', 'HEAD', 'POST' and 'PUT' HTTP methods. - Interactive or command line control of online/offline/autodial status. - Highly configurable. - Low maintenance, start/stop and online/offline status can be automated. While Online - Caching of pages that are viewed for later review. - Conditional fetching to only get pages that have changed. - Based on expiration date, time since last fetched or once per session. - Non cached support for SSL (Secure Socket Layer e.g. https). - Can be used with one or more external proxies based on web page. - Control which pages cannot be accessed. - Allow replacement of blocked pages. - Control which pages are not to be stored in the cache. - Requests compressed pages from web servers (compile time option). While Offline - Can be configured to use dial-on-demand for pages that are not cached. - Selection of pages to download next time online - Using normal browser to follow links. - Command line interface to select pages for downloading. - Control which pages can be requested when offline. - Provides non-cached access to intranet servers. Automated Download - Downloading of specified pages non-interactively. - Options to automatically fetch objects in requested pages - Understands various types of pages - HTML 4.0, Java classes, VRML (partial), XML (partial). - Options to fetch different classes of objects - Images, Stylesheets, Frames, Scripts, Java or other objects. - Automatically follows links for pages that have been moved. - Can monitor pages at regular intervals to fetch those that have changed. - Recursive fetching - To specified depth. - On any host or limited to same server or same directory. - Chosen from command line or from browser. - Control over which links can be fetched recursively. Convenience - Optional information footer on HTML pages showing date cached and options. - Options to modify HTML pages - Remove Javascript. - Stop animated GIFs. - Indicate cached and uncached links. - Remove the blink tag. - Demoronise HTML character sets. - Remove refresh tags. - Automatic proxy configuration for Netscape. - Searchable cache with the addition of the ht://Dig or UdmSearch programs. - Built in simple web-server for local pages. - Timeouts to stop proxy lockups - DNS name lookups. - Remote server connection. - Data transfer. - Continue or stop downloads interrupted by client. - Based on file size of fraction downloaded. - Purging of pages from cache - Based on URL matching. - To keep the cache size below a specified limit. - To keep the free disk space above a specified limit. - Interactive or command line control. - Compression of cached pages based on age. - Provides compressed pages to web browser (compile time option). Indexes - Multiple indexes of pages stored in cache - Servers for each protocol (http, ftp ...). - Pages on each server. - Pages waiting to be fetched. - Pages requested last time offline. - Pages fetched last time online. - Pages monitored on a regular basis. - Configurable indexes - Sorted by name, date, server domain name, type of file. - Options to delete, refresh or monitor pages. - Selection of complete list of pages or hide un-interesting pages. Security - Works with pages that require basic username/password authentication. - Automates proxy authentication for external proxies that require it. - Control over access to the proxy - Defaults to local host access only. - Host access configured by hostname or IP address. - Optional proxy authentication for user level access control. - Optional password control for proxy management functions. - Can censor incoming and outgoing HTTP headers to maintain user privacy. Configuration - All options controlled using a configuration file. - Interactive web page to allow editing of the configuration file. - User customisable error and information pages. Changes ------- Since version 2.6a: Bug Fixes: HTML parsing optimisations. HTML parser memory leak fixed. Fix stylesheet link parser. Stop cached pages containing trailing junk. Fixed wwwoffle manual page quote character bug. Fix problems parsing parameter strings in URLs. Fix ssl-allow-port config file parsing. Win32 Bug Fixes: Fixed the socket closing code. Documentation: Updated the README.win32 file. Updated FAQ to version 2.6. Updated French translated pages. Added a README.compress that describes the compression problems and solutions. New Features: Request data from servers is sent compressed, config option (see zlib note). Reply to client with compressed data if asked, config option (see zlib note). Compress the files in the cache when purging, based on age (see zlib note). Allow fetching in autodial mode as well as online mode. *NOTE* The use of zlib to enable compression should be considered a beta quality feature in this version. It requires the zlib library to compile it. Availability ------------ FTP server: ftp://metalab.unc.edu/pub/Linux/apps/www/servers/wwwoffle-2.6b.tgz FTP server: ftp://ftp.demon.co.uk/pub/unix/httpd/wwwoffle-2.6b.tgz Web page: http://www.gedanken.demon.co.uk/wwwoffle/ Author & Copyright ------------------ This program is copyright Andrew M. Bishop 1996,97,98,99,2000,01 (amb@gedanken.demon.co.uk) and distributed under GPL. email: amb@gedanken.demon.co.uk [Please put wwwoffle in the subject line]