I now use the -modtime option for my archives to use the new glimpse
feature to return hits rev. sorted by date. I wonder why netscape 'reload'
does not work anymore. It seems that netscape is using 'if modified'
since request for 'Reload' and the time does not change anymore with
-modtime.
The only idea that I have to fix this would be that if be navigational
links change one should add one second to the original time value. Other
sources of file time modification are the followup/reference changes.
But the total time drift should still be small.
The problem is NS Navigator's caching. When you perform a reload, it
only causes the Navigator to check if the document has a new date
(which is sent by the server). If it does not, Navigator uses
its cached copy. Navigator needs a forced reload function, i.e.
reget the data regardless. The only way to do a forced reload is to
quit and restart, or explicitly flush the cache.
You may want to look at the HTTP specification. It's been
a few years since I looked at it, but it covers expiration and
date issues.
I would prefer not to add some kludge to mhonarc based upon the
characteristics of a particular WWW client and/or server. It
appears to too much work for the gain achieved.
--ewh
