--libdir=/etc: For some reason, the configure and make routine for lynx uses libdir as the prefix for the configuration file. We set this to /etc so that the system wide configuration file is /etc/lynx.cfg. --with-ssl: This enables support for linking SSL into lynx. --with-zlib: This enables support for linking zlib into Lynx. DOCDIR=... HELPDIR=...: We set these variables to avoid getting the help and documentation files installed under /etc. sed... mv /etc/lynx.bak /etc/lynx.cfg: This sed command changes the /etc/lynx.cfg file so it looks for the help files in the correct place.