--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.