Comment 3 for bug 220080

In order to make lynx know when to use /etc/alternatives/firefox-homepage and when to use the low priority alternative, the source would have to be modified. I don't think these modifications should be done in the form of a patch. If they were to be done, they should be done by the developer. That way, everything would be nice and neat. I'm not sure if the developer would be willing/able to do these changes. That is what lead me to my second option. I also agree with you that my first option isn't the best choice. If the homepage were set to a real URL, you risk presenting users with a 404 error upon starting lynx. I don't think anybody would want that. It also would require a working internet connection, which is not a requirement for lynx.

To recap, I feel the best solution would be for the lynx developer to incorporate a check to see if ubuntu-docs is installed or if /etc/alternatives/firefox-homepage exists (that way, other packages could provide the file as well). If yes, the homepage is set to /etc/alternatives/firefox-homepage. Otherwise, the homepage is set to a small html file provides by lynx. The second best option is to add a small .html homepage file to the lynx package (through a patch), and set the homepage to that file.