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1 | Perl is Copyright (C) 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, |
2 | 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 by Larry Wall and others. All rights reserved. | |
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6 | ABOUT PERL |
7 | ========== | |
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9 | Perl is a general-purpose programming language originally developed for |
10 | text manipulation and now used for a wide range of tasks including | |
11 | system administration, web development, network programming, GUI | |
12 | development, and more. | |
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14 | The language is intended to be practical (easy to use, efficient, |
15 | complete) rather than beautiful (tiny, elegant, minimal). Its major | |
16 | features are that it's easy to use, supports both procedural and | |
17 | object-oriented (OO) programming, has powerful built-in support for text | |
18 | processing, and has one of the world's most impressive collections of | |
19 | third-party modules. | |
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21 | For an introduction to the language's features, see pod/perlintro.pod. |
22 | ||
23 | There are also many Perl books available, covering a wide variety of topics, | |
24 | from various publishers. See pod/perlbook.pod for more information. | |
25 | ||
26 | ||
27 | INSTALLATION | |
28 | ============ | |
29 | ||
30 | If you're using a relatively modern operating system and want to | |
31 | install this version of Perl locally, run the following commands: | |
32 | ||
b6e5a715 | 33 | ./Configure -des -Dprefix=$HOME/localperl |
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34 | make test |
35 | make install | |
36 | ||
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37 | This will configure and compile perl for your platform, run the regression |
38 | tests, and install perl in a subdirectory "localperl" of your home directory. | |
39 | ||
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40 | If you run into any trouble whatsoever or you need to install a customized |
41 | version of Perl, you should read the detailed instructions in the "INSTALL" | |
42 | file that came with this distribution. Additionally, there are a number of | |
43 | "README" files with hints and tips about building and using Perl on a wide | |
44 | variety of platforms, some more common than others. | |
45 | ||
46 | Once you have Perl installed, a wealth of documentation is available to you | |
47 | through the 'perldoc' tool. To get started, run this command: | |
48 | ||
49 | perldoc perl | |
50 | ||
51 | ||
52 | IF YOU RUN INTO TROUBLE | |
53 | ======================= | |
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55 | Perl is a large and complex system that's used for everything from |
56 | knitting to rocket science. If you run into trouble, it's quite | |
57 | likely that someone else has already solved the problem you're | |
58 | facing. Once you've exhausted the documentation, please report bugs to us | |
59 | using the 'perlbug' tool. For more information about perlbug, either type | |
60 | 'perldoc perlbug' or just 'perlbug' on a line by itself. | |
61 | ||
62 | While it was current when we made it available, Perl is constantly evolving | |
63 | and there may be a more recent version that bugs you've run into or adds | |
64 | new features that you might find useful. | |
65 | ||
66 | You can always find the latest version of perl on a CPAN (Comprehensive Perl | |
67 | Archive Network) site near you at http://www.cpan.org/src/ | |
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69 | |
70 | Just a personal note: I want you to know that I create nice things like this | |
71 | because it pleases the Author of my story. If this bothers you, then your | |
72 | notion of Authorship needs some revision. But you can use perl anyway. :-) | |
73 | ||
74 | The author. | |
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75 | |
76 | ||
77 | LICENSING | |
78 | ========= | |
79 | ||
80 | This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify | |
81 | it under the terms of either: | |
82 | ||
83 | a) the GNU General Public License as published by the Free | |
84 | Software Foundation; either version 1, or (at your option) any | |
85 | later version, or | |
86 | ||
87 | b) the "Artistic License" which comes with this Kit. | |
88 | ||
89 | This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, | |
90 | but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of | |
91 | MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See either | |
92 | the GNU General Public License or the Artistic License for more details. | |
93 | ||
94 | You should have received a copy of the Artistic License with this | |
95 | Kit, in the file named "Artistic". If not, I'll be glad to provide one. | |
96 | ||
97 | You should also have received a copy of the GNU General Public License | |
98 | along with this program in the file named "Copying". If not, write to the | |
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99 | Free Software Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, |
100 | Boston, MA 02110-1301, USA or visit their web page on the internet at | |
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101 | http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html. |
102 | ||
103 | For those of you that choose to use the GNU General Public License, | |
104 | my interpretation of the GNU General Public License is that no Perl | |
105 | script falls under the terms of the GPL unless you explicitly put | |
106 | said script under the terms of the GPL yourself. Furthermore, any | |
107 | object code linked with perl does not automatically fall under the | |
108 | terms of the GPL, provided such object code only adds definitions | |
109 | of subroutines and variables, and does not otherwise impair the | |
110 | resulting interpreter from executing any standard Perl script. I | |
111 | consider linking in C subroutines in this manner to be the moral | |
112 | equivalent of defining subroutines in the Perl language itself. You | |
113 | may sell such an object file as proprietary provided that you provide | |
114 | or offer to provide the Perl source, as specified by the GNU General | |
115 | Public License. (This is merely an alternate way of specifying input | |
116 | to the program.) You may also sell a binary produced by the dumping of | |
117 | a running Perl script that belongs to you, provided that you provide or | |
118 | offer to provide the Perl source as specified by the GPL. (The | |
119 | fact that a Perl interpreter and your code are in the same binary file | |
120 | is, in this case, a form of mere aggregation.) This is my interpretation | |
121 | of the GPL. If you still have concerns or difficulties understanding | |
122 | my intent, feel free to contact me. Of course, the Artistic License | |
123 | spells all this out for your protection, so you may prefer to use that. | |
124 | ||
125 |