source: trunk/third/perl/README @ 14545

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2                           Perl Kit, Version 5.0
3
4                       Copyright 1989-2000, Larry Wall
5                            All rights reserved.
6
7    This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
8    it under the terms of either:
9
10        a) the GNU General Public License as published by the Free
11        Software Foundation; either version 1, or (at your option) any
12        later version, or
13
14        b) the "Artistic License" which comes with this Kit.
15
16    This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
17    but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
18    MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See either
19    the GNU General Public License or the Artistic License for more details.
20
21    You should have received a copy of the Artistic License with this
22    Kit, in the file named "Artistic".  If not, I'll be glad to provide one.
23
24    You should also have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
25    along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation,
26    Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA.
27
28    For those of you that choose to use the GNU General Public License,
29    my interpretation of the GNU General Public License is that no Perl
30    script falls under the terms of the GPL unless you explicitly put
31    said script under the terms of the GPL yourself.  Furthermore, any
32    object code linked with perl does not automatically fall under the
33    terms of the GPL, provided such object code only adds definitions
34    of subroutines and variables, and does not otherwise impair the
35    resulting interpreter from executing any standard Perl script.  I
36    consider linking in C subroutines in this manner to be the moral
37    equivalent of defining subroutines in the Perl language itself.  You
38    may sell such an object file as proprietary provided that you provide
39    or offer to provide the Perl source, as specified by the GNU General
40    Public License.  (This is merely an alternate way of specifying input
41    to the program.)  You may also sell a binary produced by the dumping of
42    a running Perl script that belongs to you, provided that you provide or
43    offer to provide the Perl source as specified by the GPL.  (The
44    fact that a Perl interpreter and your code are in the same binary file
45    is, in this case, a form of mere aggregation.)  This is my interpretation
46    of the GPL.  If you still have concerns or difficulties understanding
47    my intent, feel free to contact me.  Of course, the Artistic License
48    spells all this out for your protection, so you may prefer to use that.
49
50--------------------------------------------------------------------------
51
52Perl is a language that combines some of the features of C, sed, awk
53and shell.  See the manual page for more hype.  There are also many Perl
54books available, covering a wide variety of topics, from various publishers.
55See pod/perlbook.pod for more information.
56
57Please read all the directions below before you proceed any further, and
58then follow them carefully.
59
60After you have unpacked your kit, you should have all the files listed
61in MANIFEST.
62
63Installation
64
651) Detailed instructions are in the file "INSTALL", which you should
66read if you are either installing on a system resembling Unix
67or porting perl to another platform.  For non-Unix platforms, see the
68corresponding README.
69
702) Read the manual entries before running perl.
71
723) IMPORTANT!  Help save the world!  Communicate any problems and suggested
73patches to perlbug@perl.com so we can keep the world in sync.
74If you have a problem, there's someone else out there who either has had
75or will have the same problem.  It's usually helpful if you send the
76output of the "myconfig" script in the main perl directory.
77
78If you've succeeded in compiling perl, the perlbug script in the "utils"
79subdirectory can be used to help mail in a bug report.
80
81If possible, send in patches such that the patch program will apply them.
82Context diffs are the best, then normal diffs.  Don't send ed scripts--
83I've probably changed my copy since the version you have.
84
85The latest versions of perl are always available on the various CPAN
86(Comprehensive Perl Archive Network) sites around the world.
87See <URL:http://www.perl.com/CPAN/src/>.
88
89
90Just a personal note:  I want you to know that I create nice things like this
91because it pleases the Author of my story.  If this bothers you, then your
92notion of Authorship needs some revision.  But you can use perl anyway. :-)
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94                                                        The author.
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