mc Digest, Vol 105, Issue 9

[chris glur]

} "xdg-open opens a file or URL in the user's preferred application"
} explicitly mentioning "a file or a url" and then it says
} "If a file is provided the file will be opened in the preferred
} application for files of that type." These words would indicate that it is
} going to open a file by doing something to the file, not by doing the
} extraneous act of starting a web browser.

No. "open a file" is just <US/WaltDisney folksie slang>  for <allow
you to look inside the file, to see the original creator's contents>.
This inevitably requires the use of some utility/can-opener.
A possible can-opener/nut-cracker MAY be a web-browser.

And, yes: the monster browser is a curse, based on the one-stop
shopping concept.

}But now there is a string of  really weird dependencies, it seems.

Yes. They use the same methods as narcotics-peddlars: making you
dependant on their product.
In previous decades, email was 20-lines-envelope plus 20-lines-contents.
Now it's 80-lines-envelope plus two-lines-kiddie-twitter.

Perhaps Rpi is a revolution against this absurd trend?
===
PS. has anyone got a mc-based solution for improving gmail?
http-based:
  `lynx gmail.com` wants repeated <confirmation>
  `links gmail.com`is better, receiving ONE mail at a time is absurd.
 mutt-based: pop?imap is also dud and needs `sendmail`.

How is it possible that this all worked perfectly, in the 90's !!