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	1
	2	Perl Kit, Version 5
	3
	4	Copyright 1989-2002, 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 in the file named "Copying". If not, write to the
	26	Free Software Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA
	27	02111-1307, USA or visit their web page on the internet at
	28	http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html.
	29
	30	For those of you that choose to use the GNU General Public License,
	31	my interpretation of the GNU General Public License is that no Perl
	32	script falls under the terms of the GPL unless you explicitly put
	33	said script under the terms of the GPL yourself. Furthermore, any
	34	object code linked with perl does not automatically fall under the
	35	terms of the GPL, provided such object code only adds definitions
	36	of subroutines and variables, and does not otherwise impair the
	37	resulting interpreter from executing any standard Perl script. I
	38	consider linking in C subroutines in this manner to be the moral
	39	equivalent of defining subroutines in the Perl language itself. You
	40	may sell such an object file as proprietary provided that you provide
	41	or offer to provide the Perl source, as specified by the GNU General
	42	Public License. (This is merely an alternate way of specifying input
	43	to the program.) You may also sell a binary produced by the dumping of
	44	a running Perl script that belongs to you, provided that you provide or
	45	offer to provide the Perl source as specified by the GPL. (The
	46	fact that a Perl interpreter and your code are in the same binary file
	47	is, in this case, a form of mere aggregation.) This is my interpretation
	48	of the GPL. If you still have concerns or difficulties understanding
	49	my intent, feel free to contact me. Of course, the Artistic License
	50	spells all this out for your protection, so you may prefer to use that.
	51
	52	--------------------------------------------------------------------------
	53
	54	Perl is a language that combines some of the features of C, sed, awk
	55	and shell. See the manual page for more hype. There are also many Perl
	56	books available, covering a wide variety of topics, from various publishers.
	57	See pod/perlbook.pod for more information.
	58
	59	Please read all the directions below before you proceed any further, and
	60	then follow them carefully.
	61
	62	After you have unpacked your kit, you should have all the files listed
	63	in MANIFEST.
	64
	65	Installation
	66
	67	1) Detailed instructions are in the file "INSTALL", which you should
	68	read if you are either installing on a system resembling Unix
	69	or porting perl to another platform. For non-Unix platforms, see the
	70	corresponding README.
	71
	72	2) Read the manual entries before running perl.
	73
	74	3) IMPORTANT! Help save the world! Communicate any problems and suggested
	75	patches to perlbug@perl.org so we can keep the world in sync.
	76	If you have a problem, there's someone else out there who either has had
	77	or will have the same problem. It's usually helpful if you send the
	78	output of the "myconfig" script in the main perl directory.
	79
	80	If you've succeeded in compiling perl, the perlbug script in the "utils"
	81	subdirectory can be used to help mail in a bug report.
	82
	83	If possible, send in patches such that the patch program will apply them.
	84	Context diffs are the best, then normal diffs. Don't send ed scripts--
	85	I've probably changed my copy since the version you have.
	86
	87	The latest versions of perl are always available on the various CPAN
	88	(Comprehensive Perl Archive Network) sites around the world.
	89	See <URL:http://www.cpan.org/src/>.
	90
	91
	92	Just a personal note: I want you to know that I create nice things like this
	93	because it pleases the Author of my story. If this bothers you, then your
	94	notion of Authorship needs some revision. But you can use perl anyway. :-)
	95
	96	The author.