+Perl is Copyright (C) 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001,
+2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 by Larry Wall and others. All rights reserved.
- Perl Kit, Version 5
- Copyright 1989-2002, Larry Wall
- All rights reserved.
- This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
- it under the terms of either:
+ABOUT PERL
+==========
- a) the GNU General Public License as published by the Free
- Software Foundation; either version 1, or (at your option) any
- later version, or
+Perl is a general-purpose programming language originally developed for
+text manipulation and now used for a wide range of tasks including
+system administration, web development, network programming, GUI
+development, and more.
+
+The language is intended to be practical (easy to use, efficient,
+complete) rather than beautiful (tiny, elegant, minimal). Its major
+features are that it's easy to use, supports both procedural and
+object-oriented (OO) programming, has powerful built-in support for text
+processing, and has one of the world's most impressive collections of
+third-party modules.
+
+For an introduction to the language's features, see pod/perlintro.pod.
+
+There are also many Perl books available, covering a wide variety of topics,
+from various publishers. See pod/perlbook.pod for more information.
+
+
+INSTALLATION
+============
+
+If you're using a relatively modern operating system and want to
+install this version of Perl locally, run the following commands:
+
+ ./Configure -des -Dprefix=$HOME/localperl
+ make test
+ make install
+
+This will configure and compile perl for your platform, run the regression
+tests, and install perl in a subdirectory "localperl" of your home directory.
+
+If you run into any trouble whatsoever or you need to install a customized
+version of Perl, you should read the detailed instructions in the "INSTALL"
+file that came with this distribution. Additionally, there are a number of
+"README" files with hints and tips about building and using Perl on a wide
+variety of platforms, some more common than others.
+
+Once you have Perl installed, a wealth of documentation is available to you
+through the 'perldoc' tool. To get started, run this command:
+
+ perldoc perl
- b) the "Artistic License" which comes with this Kit.
- This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
- but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
- MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See either
- the GNU General Public License or the Artistic License for more details.
-
- You should have received a copy of the Artistic License with this
- Kit, in the file named "Artistic". If not, I'll be glad to provide one.
-
- You should also have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
- along with this program in the file named "Copying". If not, write to the
- Free Software Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA
- 02111-1307, USA or visit their web page on the internet at
- http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html.
-
- For those of you that choose to use the GNU General Public License,
- my interpretation of the GNU General Public License is that no Perl
- script falls under the terms of the GPL unless you explicitly put
- said script under the terms of the GPL yourself. Furthermore, any
- object code linked with perl does not automatically fall under the
- terms of the GPL, provided such object code only adds definitions
- of subroutines and variables, and does not otherwise impair the
- resulting interpreter from executing any standard Perl script. I
- consider linking in C subroutines in this manner to be the moral
- equivalent of defining subroutines in the Perl language itself. You
- may sell such an object file as proprietary provided that you provide
- or offer to provide the Perl source, as specified by the GNU General
- Public License. (This is merely an alternate way of specifying input
- to the program.) You may also sell a binary produced by the dumping of
- a running Perl script that belongs to you, provided that you provide or
- offer to provide the Perl source as specified by the GPL. (The
- fact that a Perl interpreter and your code are in the same binary file
- is, in this case, a form of mere aggregation.) This is my interpretation
- of the GPL. If you still have concerns or difficulties understanding
- my intent, feel free to contact me. Of course, the Artistic License
- spells all this out for your protection, so you may prefer to use that.
-
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
-Perl is a language that combines some of the features of C, sed, awk
-and shell. See the manual page for more hype. There are also many Perl
-books available, covering a wide variety of topics, from various publishers.
-See pod/perlbook.pod for more information.
-
-Please read all the directions below before you proceed any further, and
-then follow them carefully.
-
-After you have unpacked your kit, you should have all the files listed
-in MANIFEST.
-
-Installation
-
-1) Detailed instructions are in the file "INSTALL", which you should
-read if you are either installing on a system resembling Unix
-or porting perl to another platform. For non-Unix platforms, see the
-corresponding README.
-
-2) Read the manual entries before running perl.
-
-3) IMPORTANT! Help save the world! Communicate any problems and suggested
-patches to perlbug@perl.org so we can keep the world in sync.
-If you have a problem, there's someone else out there who either has had
-or will have the same problem. It's usually helpful if you send the
-output of the "myconfig" script in the main perl directory.
-
-If you've succeeded in compiling perl, the perlbug script in the "utils"
-subdirectory can be used to help mail in a bug report.
-
-If possible, send in patches such that the patch program will apply them.
-Context diffs are the best, then normal diffs. Don't send ed scripts--
-I've probably changed my copy since the version you have.
-
-The latest versions of perl are always available on the various CPAN
-(Comprehensive Perl Archive Network) sites around the world.
-See <URL:http://www.cpan.org/src/>.
+IF YOU RUN INTO TROUBLE
+=======================
+
+Perl is a large and complex system that's used for everything from
+knitting to rocket science. If you run into trouble, it's quite
+likely that someone else has already solved the problem you're
+facing. Once you've exhausted the documentation, please report bugs to us
+using the 'perlbug' tool. For more information about perlbug, either type
+'perldoc perlbug' or just 'perlbug' on a line by itself.
+
+While it was current when we made it available, Perl is constantly evolving
+and there may be a more recent version that fixes bugs you've run into or
+adds new features that you might find useful.
+
+You can always find the latest version of perl on a CPAN (Comprehensive Perl
+Archive Network) site near you at http://www.cpan.org/src/
Just a personal note: I want you to know that I create nice things like this
notion of Authorship needs some revision. But you can use perl anyway. :-)
The author.
+
+
+LICENSING
+=========
+
+This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
+it under the terms of either:
+
+ a) the GNU General Public License as published by the Free
+ Software Foundation; either version 1, or (at your option) any
+ later version, or
+
+ b) the "Artistic License" which comes with this Kit.
+
+This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See either
+the GNU General Public License or the Artistic License for more details.
+
+You should have received a copy of the Artistic License with this
+Kit, in the file named "Artistic". If not, I'll be glad to provide one.
+
+You should also have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+along with this program in the file named "Copying". If not, write to the
+Free Software Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor,
+Boston, MA 02110-1301, USA or visit their web page on the internet at
+http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html.
+
+For those of you that choose to use the GNU General Public License,
+my interpretation of the GNU General Public License is that no Perl
+script falls under the terms of the GPL unless you explicitly put
+said script under the terms of the GPL yourself. Furthermore, any
+object code linked with perl does not automatically fall under the
+terms of the GPL, provided such object code only adds definitions
+of subroutines and variables, and does not otherwise impair the
+resulting interpreter from executing any standard Perl script. I
+consider linking in C subroutines in this manner to be the moral
+equivalent of defining subroutines in the Perl language itself. You
+may sell such an object file as proprietary provided that you provide
+or offer to provide the Perl source, as specified by the GNU General
+Public License. (This is merely an alternate way of specifying input
+to the program.) You may also sell a binary produced by the dumping of
+a running Perl script that belongs to you, provided that you provide or
+offer to provide the Perl source as specified by the GPL. (The
+fact that a Perl interpreter and your code are in the same binary file
+is, in this case, a form of mere aggregation.) This is my interpretation
+of the GPL. If you still have concerns or difficulties understanding
+my intent, feel free to contact me. Of course, the Artistic License
+spells all this out for your protection, so you may prefer to use that.
+
+
https://perl5.git.perl.org / perl5.git / blobdiff