Html Viewer

What it is

This is an htmlviewer for paranoid folks using text-based email viewers like PINE, ELM, mh, mutt, etc.

It will display html email in an easy to read format, but does not link to any html or image tags.

Because this application will not touch any servers, cookies or anything except your screen and will not evaluate JavaScript, Java, or even TclScript, it's safe to read any html document using this.

OK, one caveat - there may be an undiscovered buffer overflow condition in this application, Tcl/Tk, or even some system library. But, barring that, this application is as safe as it gets.

I've been using this application with no problems since 2006.

Above is an example of a phish, as displayed with htmlview.

Notice that the image is replaced by a tag <image>.

The blue HREF is displayed as you'd expect it to be, but if you click it, nothing will happen.

On the right is the same email, in the window that's created when you click the Examine button. The general tags are highlighted in yellow, and HREFs are hilighted in blue. Notice that the URL pointed to by the Click here to read is NOT the Abbey National Bank.

How To Run

  • Download the htmlview binary.
  • Put it /usr/local/bin
  • Set the executable bit if it's not set.
  • Add a line like this:
    text/html; /usr/local/bin/htmlview %s
    to your ~/.mailcap file.

Get It Here

Techie Details

This application is about 100 lines of Tcl/Tk code.

It uses D. Richard Hipp's html display widget to display the HTML.

It's packed using StarPack.