X-Git-Url: https://perl5.git.perl.org/perl5.git/blobdiff_plain/378cc40b38293ffc7298c6a7ed3cd740ad79be52..64883bec20d3d0f6f43c7e1a2d41d7fc61c47cdd:/README diff --git a/README b/README index 0fb953a..a4fd2c4 100644 --- a/README +++ b/README @@ -1,85 +1,129 @@ +Perl is Copyright (C) 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, +2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 +by Larry Wall and others. All rights reserved. - Perl Kit, Version 2.0 - Copyright (c) 1988, Larry Wall -You may copy the perl kit in whole or in part as long as you don't try to -make money off it, or pretend that you wrote it. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- +ABOUT PERL +========== -Perl is a language that combines some of the features of C, sed, awk and shell. -See the manual page for more hype. +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. -Perl will probably not run on machines with a small address space. +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. -Please read all the directions below before you proceed any further, and -then follow them carefully. Failure to do so may void your warranty. :-) +For an introduction to the language's features, see pod/perlintro.pod. -After you have unpacked your kit, you should have all the files listed -in MANIFEST. +For a discussion of the important changes in this release, see +pod/perldelta.pod. -Installation +There are also many Perl books available, covering a wide variety of topics, +from various publishers. See pod/perlbook.pod for more information. -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. It will then proceed to make config.h, config.sh, and - Makefile. - 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. +INSTALLATION +============ - (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.) +If you're using a relatively modern operating system and want to +install this version of Perl locally, run the following commands: -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. + ./Configure -des -Dprefix=$HOME/localperl + make test + make install - If you have any additional changes to make to the C definitions, they - can be done in the Makefile, or in config.h. Bear in mind that they will - get undone next time you run Configure. +This will configure and compile perl for your platform, run the regression +tests, and install perl in a subdirectory "localperl" of your home directory. -3) make depend +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. - This will look for all the includes and modify Makefile accordingly. - Configure will offer to do this for you. +Once you have Perl installed, a wealth of documentation is available to you +through the 'perldoc' tool. To get started, run this command: -4) make + perldoc perl - This will attempt to make perl in the current directory. -5) make test +IF YOU RUN INTO TROUBLE +======================= - 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 in doubt, just - cd to the t directory and run TEST by hand. +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. -6) make install +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. - This will put perl into a public directory (normally /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 do this. If - you are not root, you must own the directories in question and you should - ignore any messages about chown not working. +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/ -7) Read the manual entry before running perl. -8) Go down to the x2p directory and do a "make depend, a "make" and a - "make install" to create the awk to perl and sed to perl translators. +Just a personal note: I want you to know that I create nice things like this +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. :-) -9) IMPORTANT! Help save the world! Communicate any problems and suggested - patches to me, lwall@jpl-devvax.jpl.nasa.gov (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. + The author. - 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. - Watch for perl patches in comp.sources.bugs. 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. +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. +