Getting a VAX running Lynx onto the modern web. Lynx here was built without SSL, so it cannot fetch a https:// URL at all — a proxy on a Raspberry Pi terminates the TLS and hands back plain HTTP. Verified on Macproxy Classic 25.11.1 (Docker image rdmark/macproxy) and Lynx 2.9.3 on OpenVMS VAX V7.3.

The Pi is 172.24.9.50 and the proxy listens on port 5001. The VAX is GOZER at 172.24.9.95.

Building Lynx with SSL on VAX means building OpenSSL on VAX first. The proxy sidesteps that entirely, and it does something a TLS-capable Lynx would not: it rewrites inline hyperlinks from https to http, so every link you follow comes back through the proxy without you touching the address bar.

Macproxy also strips stylesheets and JavaScript and suppresses inline scripts. Irrelevant to Lynx, which ignores them anyway, but it shrinks the transfer — worthwhile over a slow link.

# Install Docker:

curl -fsSL https://get.docker.com | sh

# Let the pi user run docker without sudo:

sudo usermod -aG docker $USER

Log out and back in before this takes effect. Do not reach for sudo docker as a workaround — fix the group.

# Run Macproxy, restarting on boot:

docker run -d --name macproxy --restart=unless-stopped -p 5001:5001 rdmark/macproxy

# Confirm it is listening:

docker ps

# Test it from the Pi before touching the VAX:

curl -x http://172.24.9.50:5001 http://example.com

If that returns HTML, the proxy works and everything after this is VMS configuration.

# Watch requests as they arrive:

docker logs -f macproxy

Leave this running in another window while you test from the VAX. It tells you immediately whether the VAX is reaching the Pi at all.

# Point Lynx at the proxy:

DEFINE "http_proxy" "http://172.24.9.50:5001/"

# And for https URLs:

DEFINE "https_proxy" "http://172.24.9.50:5001/"

# Keep local traffic off the proxy:

DEFINE "no_proxy" "localhost,172.24.9."

The quotes are not optional. See gotcha 1.

# Check where the binary and data live:

SHOW LOGICAL LYNX*

The kit install puts the image in SYS$SYSTEM:LYNX.EXE and its data in SYS$COMMON:[LYNX], and defines LYNX_DIR but not LYNX_CFG.

# Point Lynx at a config file:

DEFINE LYNX_CFG SYS$COMMON:[LYNX]LYNX.CFG

# Verify Lynx actually read it:

LYNX -show_cfg

If the output shows lynx.invisible-island.net URLs, it did not — those are the compiled-in defaults.

# 1. DCL upcases logical names. Lynx looks for lowercase.

DEFINE http_proxy … creates HTTP_PROXY, and Lynx never finds it. The symptom is no error at all — pages simply fail to load, and nothing appears in the Macproxy log because the VAX never contacted the Pi. Quote the name to preserve case.

DEFINE "http_proxy" "http://172.24.9.50:5001/"

# 2. With no LYNX_CFG, the compiled-in STARTFILE and HELPFILE are https.

An SSL-less Lynx cannot fetch either, so it opens on an error and ? does nothing. Override both with http URLs in your own config.

STARTFILE:file://localhost/sys$login/bookmarks.html
HELPFILE:http://172.24.9.50/lynx_help_main.html

# 3. The port changed from 5000 to 5001 in 25.11.1.

Every guide written before that release tells you 5000. If curl through the proxy hangs, check docker ps for the real port mapping before debugging anything else.

# 4. VMS file URLs use slashes, not brackets.

file://localhost/SYS$COMMON:[LYNX]bookmarks.html fails with “Unable to access document”. Translate the path.

file://localhost/sys$common/lynx/bookmarks.html

# Keep the bookmark file in your home directory:

BOOKMARK_FILE:bookmarks.html

A bare filename resolves against SYS$LOGIN:. Do not put it in SYS$COMMON:[LYNX] — that is a system directory, so a fails to write and Lynx does not always say so.

# Open straight into the bookmark list:

STARTFILE:file://localhost/sys$login/bookmarks.html

Create the file before first launch or the start page errors.

Google returns 403 to any client without JavaScript, and no proxy fixes that — the refusal happens at Google's edge before content is served. These do not:

• http://frogfind.com/?q=… — heavily stripped, rewrites result links

back through itself

• https://lite.duckduckgo.com/lite/?q=… — minimal HTML, no scripts
• https://wiby.me/?q=… — indexes lightweight pages, suits a VT220

Rule of thumb: Macproxy for browsing, FrogFind in your bookmarks as the fallback when the Pi misbehaves.