RE: [PATCH] compress 2.018
[p5sagit/p5-mst-13.2.git] / README
CommitLineData
a0bda3fb 1Perl is Copyright (C) 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001,
737f4459 22002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 by Larry Wall and others.
a9a18363 3All rights reserved.
8d063cd8 4
8d063cd8 5
4bb101f2 6
a0bda3fb 7ABOUT PERL
8==========
a687059c 9
a0bda3fb 10Perl is a general-purpose programming language originally developed for
11text manipulation and now used for a wide range of tasks including
12system administration, web development, network programming, GUI
13development, and more.
8e07c86e 14
a0bda3fb 15The language is intended to be practical (easy to use, efficient,
16complete) rather than beautiful (tiny, elegant, minimal). Its major
17features are that it's easy to use, supports both procedural and
18object-oriented (OO) programming, has powerful built-in support for text
19processing, and has one of the world's most impressive collections of
20third-party modules.
d48672a2 21
a0bda3fb 22For an introduction to the language's features, see pod/perlintro.pod.
23
8f03122b 24For a discussion of the important changes in this release, see
25pod/perl5100delta.pod. (This will also be installed as perldelta.pod).
26
a0bda3fb 27There are also many Perl books available, covering a wide variety of topics,
28from various publishers. See pod/perlbook.pod for more information.
29
30
31INSTALLATION
32============
33
34If you're using a relatively modern operating system and want to
35install this version of Perl locally, run the following commands:
36
b6e5a715 37 ./Configure -des -Dprefix=$HOME/localperl
a0bda3fb 38 make test
39 make install
40
b6e5a715 41This will configure and compile perl for your platform, run the regression
42tests, and install perl in a subdirectory "localperl" of your home directory.
43
a0bda3fb 44If you run into any trouble whatsoever or you need to install a customized
45version of Perl, you should read the detailed instructions in the "INSTALL"
46file that came with this distribution. Additionally, there are a number of
47"README" files with hints and tips about building and using Perl on a wide
48variety of platforms, some more common than others.
49
50Once you have Perl installed, a wealth of documentation is available to you
51through the 'perldoc' tool. To get started, run this command:
52
53 perldoc perl
54
55
56IF YOU RUN INTO TROUBLE
57=======================
a687059c 58
a0bda3fb 59Perl is a large and complex system that's used for everything from
60knitting to rocket science. If you run into trouble, it's quite
61likely that someone else has already solved the problem you're
62facing. Once you've exhausted the documentation, please report bugs to us
63using the 'perlbug' tool. For more information about perlbug, either type
64'perldoc perlbug' or just 'perlbug' on a line by itself.
65
66While it was current when we made it available, Perl is constantly evolving
d0b6580b 67and there may be a more recent version that fixes bugs you've run into or
68adds new features that you might find useful.
a0bda3fb 69
70You can always find the latest version of perl on a CPAN (Comprehensive Perl
71Archive Network) site near you at http://www.cpan.org/src/
8d063cd8 72
a687059c 73
74Just a personal note: I want you to know that I create nice things like this
75because it pleases the Author of my story. If this bothers you, then your
76notion of Authorship needs some revision. But you can use perl anyway. :-)
77
78 The author.
a0bda3fb 79
80
81LICENSING
82=========
83
84This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
85it under the terms of either:
86
87 a) the GNU General Public License as published by the Free
88 Software Foundation; either version 1, or (at your option) any
89 later version, or
90
91 b) the "Artistic License" which comes with this Kit.
92
93This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
94but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
95MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See either
96the GNU General Public License or the Artistic License for more details.
97
98You should have received a copy of the Artistic License with this
99Kit, in the file named "Artistic". If not, I'll be glad to provide one.
100
101You should also have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
102along with this program in the file named "Copying". If not, write to the
8d9043d1 103Free Software Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor,
104Boston, MA 02110-1301, USA or visit their web page on the internet at
a0bda3fb 105http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html.
106
107For those of you that choose to use the GNU General Public License,
108my interpretation of the GNU General Public License is that no Perl
109script falls under the terms of the GPL unless you explicitly put
110said script under the terms of the GPL yourself. Furthermore, any
111object code linked with perl does not automatically fall under the
112terms of the GPL, provided such object code only adds definitions
113of subroutines and variables, and does not otherwise impair the
114resulting interpreter from executing any standard Perl script. I
115consider linking in C subroutines in this manner to be the moral
116equivalent of defining subroutines in the Perl language itself. You
117may sell such an object file as proprietary provided that you provide
118or offer to provide the Perl source, as specified by the GNU General
119Public License. (This is merely an alternate way of specifying input
120to the program.) You may also sell a binary produced by the dumping of
121a running Perl script that belongs to you, provided that you provide or
122offer to provide the Perl source as specified by the GPL. (The
123fact that a Perl interpreter and your code are in the same binary file
124is, in this case, a form of mere aggregation.) This is my interpretation
125of the GPL. If you still have concerns or difficulties understanding
126my intent, feel free to contact me. Of course, the Artistic License
127spells all this out for your protection, so you may prefer to use that.
128
129