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d2de3398 | 1 | Perl is Copyright (C) 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, |
a271a376 | 2 | 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, |
81d293c2 | 3 | 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 |
9194fd8b | 4 | by Larry Wall and others. |
1831d2c9 | 5 | |
e84cc8c8 | 6 | All rights reserved. |
8d063cd8 | 7 | |
42557cf4 | 8 | # ABOUT PERL |
a687059c | 9 | |
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10 | Perl is a general-purpose programming language originally developed for |
11 | text manipulation and now used for a wide range of tasks including | |
12 | system administration, web development, network programming, GUI | |
13 | development, and more. | |
8e07c86e | 14 | |
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15 | The language is intended to be practical (easy to use, efficient, |
16 | complete) rather than beautiful (tiny, elegant, minimal). Its major | |
17 | features are that it's easy to use, supports both procedural and | |
18 | object-oriented (OO) programming, has powerful built-in support for text | |
19 | processing, and has one of the world's most impressive collections of | |
20 | third-party modules. | |
d48672a2 | 21 | |
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22 | For an introduction to the language's features, see pod/perlintro.pod. |
23 | ||
8f03122b | 24 | For a discussion of the important changes in this release, see |
37ee6528 | 25 | pod/perldelta.pod. |
8f03122b | 26 | |
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27 | There are also many Perl books available, covering a wide variety of topics, |
28 | from various publishers. See pod/perlbook.pod for more information. | |
29 | ||
30 | ||
42557cf4 | 31 | # INSTALLATION |
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32 | |
33 | If you're using a relatively modern operating system and want to | |
34 | install this version of Perl locally, run the following commands: | |
35 | ||
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36 | ./Configure -des -Dprefix=$HOME/localperl |
37 | make test | |
38 | make install | |
a0bda3fb | 39 | |
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40 | This will configure and compile perl for your platform, run the regression |
41 | tests, and install perl in a subdirectory "localperl" of your home directory. | |
42 | ||
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43 | If you run into any trouble whatsoever or you need to install a customized |
44 | version of Perl, you should read the detailed instructions in the "INSTALL" | |
45 | file that came with this distribution. Additionally, there are a number of | |
46 | "README" files with hints and tips about building and using Perl on a wide | |
47 | variety of platforms, some more common than others. | |
48 | ||
49 | Once you have Perl installed, a wealth of documentation is available to you | |
50 | through the 'perldoc' tool. To get started, run this command: | |
51 | ||
42557cf4 | 52 | perldoc perl |
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53 | |
54 | ||
42557cf4 | 55 | # IF YOU RUN INTO TROUBLE |
a687059c | 56 | |
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57 | Perl is a large and complex system that's used for everything from |
58 | knitting to rocket science. If you run into trouble, it's quite | |
59 | likely that someone else has already solved the problem you're | |
60 | facing. Once you've exhausted the documentation, please report bugs to us | |
8166b4e0 | 61 | at the GitHub issue tracker at https://github.com/Perl/perl5/issues |
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62 | |
63 | While it was current when we made it available, Perl is constantly evolving | |
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64 | and there may be a more recent version that fixes bugs you've run into or |
65 | adds new features that you might find useful. | |
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66 | |
67 | You can always find the latest version of perl on a CPAN (Comprehensive Perl | |
d33c0cb5 | 68 | Archive Network) site near you at https://www.cpan.org/src/ |
8d063cd8 | 69 | |
285c5e42 DM |
70 | If you want to submit a simple patch to the perl source, see the "SUPER |
71 | QUICK PATCH GUIDE" in pod/perlhack.pod. | |
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72 | |
73 | Just a personal note: I want you to know that I create nice things like this | |
74 | because it pleases the Author of my story. If this bothers you, then your | |
75 | notion of Authorship needs some revision. But you can use perl anyway. :-) | |
76 | ||
42557cf4 | 77 | The author. |
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78 | |
79 | ||
42557cf4 | 80 | # LICENSING |
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81 | |
82 | This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify | |
83 | it under the terms of either: | |
84 | ||
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85 | a. the GNU General Public License as published by the Free |
86 | Software Foundation; either version 1, or (at your option) any | |
87 | later version, or | |
a0bda3fb | 88 | |
1831d2c9 | 89 | b. the "Artistic License" which comes with this Kit. |
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90 | |
91 | This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, | |
92 | but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of | |
93 | MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See either | |
94 | the GNU General Public License or the Artistic License for more details. | |
95 | ||
96 | You should have received a copy of the Artistic License with this | |
97 | Kit, in the file named "Artistic". If not, I'll be glad to provide one. | |
98 | ||
99 | You should also have received a copy of the GNU General Public License | |
100 | along with this program in the file named "Copying". If not, write to the | |
ecd16862 | 101 | Free Software Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, |
8d9043d1 | 102 | Boston, MA 02110-1301, USA or visit their web page on the internet at |
d33c0cb5 | 103 | https://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html. |
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104 | |
105 | For those of you that choose to use the GNU General Public License, | |
106 | my interpretation of the GNU General Public License is that no Perl | |
107 | script falls under the terms of the GPL unless you explicitly put | |
108 | said script under the terms of the GPL yourself. Furthermore, any | |
109 | object code linked with perl does not automatically fall under the | |
110 | terms of the GPL, provided such object code only adds definitions | |
111 | of subroutines and variables, and does not otherwise impair the | |
112 | resulting interpreter from executing any standard Perl script. I | |
113 | consider linking in C subroutines in this manner to be the moral | |
114 | equivalent of defining subroutines in the Perl language itself. You | |
115 | may sell such an object file as proprietary provided that you provide | |
116 | or offer to provide the Perl source, as specified by the GNU General | |
117 | Public License. (This is merely an alternate way of specifying input | |
118 | to the program.) You may also sell a binary produced by the dumping of | |
119 | a running Perl script that belongs to you, provided that you provide or | |
120 | offer to provide the Perl source as specified by the GPL. (The | |
121 | fact that a Perl interpreter and your code are in the same binary file | |
122 | is, in this case, a form of mere aggregation.) This is my interpretation | |
123 | of the GPL. If you still have concerns or difficulties understanding | |
124 | my intent, feel free to contact me. Of course, the Artistic License | |
125 | spells all this out for your protection, so you may prefer to use that. |