[Info-vax] Ghostscript and HTML Browser on X86

[Arne Vajhøj]

On 12/12/2022 6:53 AM, Andreas Gruhl wrote:
> We have successfully ported our first application (Planning for
> public transport companies, 1.6 Mio Lines of Pascal) to X86.
> 
> But: the application generates HTML and Postscript files. On Alpha
> and Itanium we can directly show these to the user via an old Mozilla
> browser and via Ghostview/Ghostscript. The browser is automatically
> launched by our application and directed to the correct page.
> Everything works just fine.
> 
> Where can we get an equivalent of these display products for X86?
> 
> Well, we have Sourcecode for Ghostscript and will try to build it -
> it doesn't look easy though.
> 
> But we see no chance of raising an HTML browser on X86. We do not
> need all the latest bells and whistles. The software might be 10
> years of age or even older - if it can be built on Alpha or Itanium,
> we could try building it on X86, provided we had access to the source
> code.
> 
> And before you ask, why we not simply use display software on the
> user's desktop, here is my answer: the only connection between the
> desktop and our VMS server is via the X Protocol. This is commonly
> routed through products like Citrix or Teamviewer and the Exceed
> display server. So interactions between the VMS server and the
> desktop are quite limited.

I believe GS and GV are written in C. And VMS C is VMS C. So it should
be possible to get those running on VMS x86-64. Maybe someone
even already got them running.

Web browser is an entirely different story. I think the short
version is that it will not happen. VSI does not have a commercial
justification for porting a browser to VMS and the VMS community are
not able to mobilize enough volunteers to do so. Technically it is
of course possible - and when the CLang compiler become available for
VMS x86-64 it will become even easier, but I don't think it will happen.

Bottom line is that you will need a different workflow. Time to sit down
with the network people and the security people to discuss what can
be done.

There are plenty of possibilities to discuss (hopefully there is at
least one that will be considered acceptable):
* VMS FTP/SFTP/FTPS files out to a Linux server inside the
   secure zone and browser on that Linux server is accessed
   via tunneled X (requires a new Linux server inside the secure
   zone)
* VMS FTP/SFTP/FTPS files out to a Linux server outside the
   secure zone where the files can be accessed from the desktop
   (requires some outgoing connectivity, but outgoing is sometimes
   easier to get approved than inbound)
* install a HTTP server on VMS and serve the files from that
   (requires opening up port 80)
* install a HTTP server on VMS and serve the files from that
   and setup -firewall-proxy server-firewall-VMS  (requires
   some configuration and possible even some hardware)
* find/write a tool that are able to copy files over X protocol
   and use that tool to move the files from VMS to a Linux server
   outside the secure zone where the files can be accessed from
   the desktop (requires software, and even though it does not
   require new protocols to be allowed then it may actually be
   the same from a real security perspective)

[there may be other options, but that was those I could think of]

Arne