X-Git-Url: https://perl5.git.perl.org/perl5.git/blobdiff_plain/16d20bd98cd29be76029ebf04027a7edd34d817b..ecd168629d4e2c59d7a8941852edb6087f9244c4:/README diff --git a/README b/README index 23bc7ca..ff5af8c 100644 --- a/README +++ b/README @@ -1,255 +1,74 @@ +Perl is Copyright (C) 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, +2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 by Larry Wall +and others. All rights reserved. - Perl Kit, Version 5.0 - Copyright (c) 1989,1990,1991,1992,1993,1994 Larry Wall - All rights reserved. - 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 +ABOUT PERL +========== - b) the "Artistic License" which comes with this Kit. +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. + +For a discussion of the important changes in this release, see +pod/perldelta.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 - 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; if not, write to the Free Software - Foundation, Inc., 675 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA. - - 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 two Nutshell -Handbooks published by O'Reilly & Assoc. 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) Run Configure. This will figure out various things about your - system. Some things Configure will figure out for itself, other - things it will ask you about. If the test scripts and programs - run ok, the defaults will usually be right. It will then proceed to - make config.h, config.sh, and Makefile. You may have to explicitly - say sh Configure to ensure that Configure is run under sh. - If you're a hotshot, run Configure -d to take all the defaults, - edit config.sh to patch up any flaws, and then run Configure -S. - - Configure supports a number of useful options. Run Configure -h - to get a listing. To compile with gcc, for example, you can run - Configure -Dcc=gcc, or answer 'gcc' at the cc prompt. - - If you wish to use gcc (or another alternative compiler)) - you should use Configure -Dcc=gcc. That way, the the hints - files can set appropriate defaults. - - If you change compilers or make other significant changes, you should - probably _not_ re-use your old config.sh. Simply remove it or - rename it, e.g. mv config.sh config.sh.old. - - By default, perl will be installed in /usr/local/{bin, lib, man}. - You can specify a different prefix for the default installation - directory, when Configure prompts you or by using something like - Configure -Dprefix=/whatever. - - You can also supply a file config.over to over-ride Configure's - guesses. It will get loaded up at the very end, just before - config.sh is created. - - You might possibly have to trim # comments from the front of Configure - if your sh doesn't handle them, but all other # comments will be taken - care of. - - (If you don't have sh, you'll have to copy the sample file config_H to - config.h and edit the config.h to reflect your system's peculiarities.) - -2) Glance through config.h to make sure system dependencies are correct. - Most of them should have been taken care of by running the Configure script. - - If you have any additional changes to make to the C definitions, they - can be done in cflags.SH. For instance, to turn off the optimizer - on toke.c, find the line in the switch structure for toke.c and - put the command optimize='-g' before the ;;. To change the C flags - for all the files, edit config.sh and change either $ccflags or $optimize. - -3) make depend - - This will look for all the includes and modify Makefile accordingly. - Configure will offer to do this for you. - -4) make - - This will attempt to make perl in the current directory. - - If you can't compile successfully, try adding a -DCRIPPLED_CC flag. - (Just because you get no errors doesn't mean it compiled right!) - This simplifies some complicated expressions for compilers that - get indigestion easily. If that has no effect, try turning off - optimization. If you have missing routines, you probably need to - add some library or other, or you need to undefine some feature that - Configure thought was there but is defective or incomplete. - - Some compilers will not compile or optimize the larger files without - some extra switches to use larger jump offsets or allocate larger - internal tables. You can customize the switches for each file in - cflags.SH. It's okay to insert rules for specific files into - Makefile.SH, since a default rule only takes effect in the - absence of a specific rule. - - If you used a hint file, try reading the comments in the hint file - for further tips and information. - - If you can successfully build miniperl, but the process crashes - during the building of extensions, you should run - make minitest - to test your version of miniperl. - - Some additional things that have been reported for either perl4 or - perl5: - - Genix may need to use libc rather than libc_s, or #undef VARARGS. - - NCR Tower 32 (OS 2.01.01) may need -W2,-Sl,2000 and #undef MKDIR. - - UTS may need one or more of -DCRIPPLED_CC, -K or -g, and undef LSTAT. - - If you get syntax errors on '(', try -DCRIPPLED_CC. - - Machines with half-implemented dbm routines will need to #undef I_ODBM - - SCO prior to 3.2.4 may be missing dbmclose(). An upgrade to 3.2.4 - that includes libdbm.nfs (which includes dbmclose()) may be available. - - If you get duplicates upon linking for malloc et al, say -DHIDEMYMALLOC. - - If you get duplicate function definitions (a perl function has the - same name as another function on your system) try -DEMBED. - - If you get varags problems with gcc, be sure that gcc is installed - correctly. When using gcc, you should probably have i_stdarg='define' - and i_varags='undef' in config.sh. The problem is usually solved - by running fixincludes correctly. - - If you wish to use dynamic loading on SunOS or Solaris, and you - have GNU as and GNU ld installed, you may need to add -B/bin/ to - your $ccflags and $ldflags so that the system's versions of as - and ld are used. - - If you run into dynamic loading problems, check your setting of - the LD_LIBRARY_PATH environment variable. Perl should build - fine with LD_LIBRARY_PATH unset, though that may depend on details - of your local set-up. - -5) make test - - This will run the regression tests on the perl you just made. - If it doesn't say "All tests successful" then something went wrong. - See the README in the t subdirectory. Note that you can't run it - in background if this disables opening of /dev/tty. If "make test" - bombs out, just cd to the t directory and run TEST by hand to see if - it makes any difference. If individual tests bomb, you can run - them by hand, e.g., ./perl op/groups.t - -6) make install - - This will put perl into a public directory (such as - /usr/local/bin). It will also try to put the man pages in a - reasonable place. It will not nroff the man page, however. You - may need to be root to run make install. If you are not root, you - must own the directories in question and you should ignore any - messages about chown not working. - - make install will install the following: - perl, - perl5.nnn where nnn is the current release number. This - will be a link to perl. - suidperl, - sperl5.nnn If you requested setuid emulation. - a2p awk-to-perl translator - cppstdin This is used by perl -P, if your cc -E can't - read from stdin. - c2ph, pstruct Scripts for handling C structures in header files. - s2p sed-to-perl translator - find2perl find-to-perl translator - h2xs Converts C .h header files to Perl extensions. - perldoc Tool to read perl's pod documentation. - pod2html, Converters from perl's pod documentation format - pod2latex, and to other useful formats. - pod2man - - library files in $privlib and $archlib specified to - Configure, usually under /usr/local/lib/perl5/. - man pages in the location specified to Configure, usually - something like /usr/local/man/man1. - module in the location specified to Configure, usually - man pages under /usr/local/lib/perl5/man/man3. - pod/*.pod in $privlib/pod/. - - Perl's *.h header files and the libperl.a library are also - installed under $archlib so that you may later build new - extensions even if the Perl source is no longer available. - - make install may also offer to install perl in a "standard" location. - - Most of the documentation in the pod/ directory is also available - in HTML and LaTeX format. Type - cd pod; make html; cd .. - to generate the html versions, and - cd pod; make tex; cd .. - to generate the LaTeX versions. - -7) Read the manual entries before running perl. - -8) IMPORTANT! Help save the world! Communicate any problems and suggested - patches to me, lwall@netlabs.com (Larry Wall), 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. - - 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. It's also - helpful if you send the output of "uname -a". - - Watch for perl patches in comp.lang.perl. Patches will generally be - in a form usable by the patch program. If you are just now bringing up - perl and aren't sure how many patches there are, write to me and I'll - send any you don't have. Your current patch level is shown in patchlevel.h. + +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 @@ -257,3 +76,54 @@ because it pleases the Author of my story. If this bothers you, then your 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. + +