[ibara]

Originally Posted by fvgit

I already pulled a pkg_delete -X in the meantime. But to address your comment: pkg_add offered me to choose between midori-0.5.11 and midori-0.5.11-gtk3. I chose the former and ended up with gtk+3-3.18.7 AND gtk+2-2.24.29 anyway.

That's to be expected. Just because that version of Midori doesn't use gtk+3 doesn't mean its dependencies don't.

Originally Posted by fvgit

Well, I consider text-mode browsing an entirely different kettle of fish. Somehow I never really got into it but I should probably revisit it. As for dillo you're spot on: here's a list of dillo's hand luggage on a system with zero packages installed:

quirks-2.197: ok
dillo-3.0.5p0:png-1.6.20: ok
dillo-3.0.5p0:libiconv-1.14p3: ok
dillo-3.0.5p0:gettext-0.19.7: ok
dillo-3.0.5p0:libidn-1.32: ok
dillo-3.0.5p0:libunistring-0.9.6: ok
dillo-3.0.5p0:libpsl-0.7.1p1: ok
dillo-3.0.5p0:pcre-8.38: ok
dillo-3.0.5p0:wget-1.16.3p0: ok
dillo-3.0.5p0:jpeg-9a: ok
dillo-3.0.5p0:fltk-1.3.3p0: ok
dillo-3.0.5p0:libelf-0.8.13p3: ok
dillo-3.0.5p0:libffi-3.2.1p0: ok
dillo-3.0.5p0:bzip2-1.0.6p7: ok
dillo-3.0.5p0:python-2.7.11: ok
dillo-3.0.5p0:glib2-2.46.2p0: ok
dillo-3.0.5p0:desktop-file-utils-0.22p0: ok
dillo-3.0.5p0: ok

Seems much more reasonable, doesn't it? And the best thing: it's pretty usable. It's not perfect, of course (what browser is?) but it works reasonably well within the feature set it supports. For dated hardware a pretty good choice.

Netsurf will be next on my list. I'm curious to see how it compares to dillo.

I find Netsurf to be quite superior to Dillo. You can use Netsurf to not just read, but interact with phpBB/vBulletin boards such as DaemonForums. I've posted many times here through Netsurf, something that I remember not being able to do with Dillo. It might be a bit larger but it's still lightweight, and the Netsurf team is pursuing JavaScript support so it might become a more relevant player for modern-ish web browsing on not-so-modern-ish machines. Plus it's much more likely than Firefox/WebKit to be buildable on lesser used architectures (though Dillo most likely supports even more architectures than Netsurf, but alas, diminishing returns and all...)

Originally Posted by fvgit

While I agree with everything you wrote, I'm still questioning the necessity of dependencies like cdparanoia for instance.

I'm not really going to go into the details of how ports and packages work, especially on OpenBSD, but it's much more complex than your statement would lead one to believe. Maybe it could be better. But the result of your pkg_add midori has not been without thought and debate and much consideration. All invisible labor from your vantage point. We would all do well to seek out and engage with the invisible labors that undergird our lives.

Originally Posted by fvgit

My point is, that somewhere along the road sth. went inherently wrong in matters of software design for web browsers. Especially if we consider the fact that basic functionality involves rendering a markup language document and a few images.

I disagree with this. The world changes. Basic functionality no longer "involves rendering a markup language document and a few images." Basic functionality is a lot more than that. It's not 1996. If you don't like it, you can go protest the W3C. It's fun. The FSF protested the W3C at the conclusion of LibrePlanet 2016 this year (which I attended as a speaker, also something fun you should consider doing, especially after you've blazed the trail for Web 4.0).

Note that the W3C is just the tip of the iceberg...

There's nothing "inherently wrong" about it: that's making a claim of technological determinism (which are always too reductionist to carry enough truth to be useful, if not outright incorrect), and making a strange claim about the ethics and morality of software design (which even if true doesn't provide us with any ability to take action). A more nuanced understanding would look at the myriads of (often competing) forces, human and non-human, that co-shaped both the technology and each other in producing our modern technologies and realities vis-a-vis the web, noting that where we happen to be now is not in stasis but a snapshot in time with a known past from which to learn and uncertain future which can be informed. If nothing else, it would make for a more interesting (not to mention, more accurate) story.

Originally Posted by fvgit

Let me put it his way: a web browser currently seems to be one the most un-OpenBSD-like pieces of software one might find on an OpenBSD desktop, text-mode variants notwithstanding.

Sure, I won't disagree with this assessment. However, one would not be in the wrong to assert that OpenBSD's priorities do not match their personal priorities, and use web browsers as an example of that mismatch. Nor would OpenBSD be in the wrong to assert that web browsers are not their priority.

By the way, Dillo needs a maintainer. I was the last maintainer, which means it hasn't been touched in a year. On the other hand, it looks like there have been no new releases of Dillo since I last updated it...