| 1 | L I B W W W - P E R L - 5
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| 2 | -----------------------------
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| 3 |
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| 4 | Libwww-perl is a collection of Perl modules which provides a simple
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| 5 | and consistent programming interface (API) to the World-Wide Web. The
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| 6 | main focus of the library is to provide classes and functions that
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| 7 | allow you to write WWW clients, thus libwww-perl said to be a WWW
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| 8 | client library. The library also contain modules that are of more
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| 9 | general use and even classes that helps you implement simple HTTP
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| 10 | servers.
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| 11 |
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| 12 | There are actually two versions of libwww-perl: one for Perl4, and one
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| 13 | for Perl5. Both have a similar architecture, loosely based on the CERN
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| 14 | Library of Common Code (nowadays known as 'w3c-libwww').
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| 15 |
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| 16 | The Perl4 version is still(?) maintained by Roy Fielding, and was the
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| 17 | basis for tools such as MOMSpider. The perl4 version of libwww-perl
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| 18 | and much more information about its libraries can be found at:
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| 19 | http://www.ics.uci.edu/pub/websoft/libwww-perl/
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| 20 |
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| 21 | The Perl5 version (this package) is a complete rewrite for Perl5: the
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| 22 | code is organized in Modules, provides an Object Oriented API, is
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| 23 | updated for the latest HTTP and URL specification, and offers some
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| 24 | extended functionality.
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| 25 |
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| 26 | Full HTTP/1.1 support is on its way. Alpha releases of the LWPng
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| 27 | package is currently available from CPAN.
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| 28 |
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| 29 |
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| 30 | PREREQUISITES
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| 31 |
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| 32 | In order to install and use this package you will need Perl version
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| 33 | 5.004 or better. Some modules within this package depend on other
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| 34 | packages that are distributed separately from Perl. We recommend that
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| 35 | you have the following packages installed before you install
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| 36 | libwww-perl:
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| 37 |
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| 38 | MIME-Base64
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| 39 | HTML-Parser
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| 40 | libnet
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| 41 | MD5
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| 42 |
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| 43 | These packages should be available on CPAN.
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| 44 |
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| 45 | If you want to access sites using the https protocol, then you need to
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| 46 | install the Crypt-SSLeay modules first. (The Net::SSLeay module is not
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| 47 | supported any more.)
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| 48 |
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| 49 |
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| 50 | INSTALLATION
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| 51 |
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| 52 | You install libwww-perl, as you would install any perl module library,
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| 53 | by running these commands:
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| 54 |
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| 55 | perl Makefile.PL
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| 56 | make
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| 57 | make test
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| 58 | make install
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| 59 |
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| 60 | You can edit the configuration section of Makefile.PL to select which
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| 61 | programs to install in addition to the library itself. If you don't
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| 62 | want to install any programs (only the library files) and don't want
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| 63 | to mess with the Makefile.PL then pass the '-n' option to Makefile.PL:
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| 64 |
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| 65 | perl Makefile.PL -n
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| 66 |
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| 67 | If you want to install a private copy of libwww-perl in your home
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| 68 | directory, then you should try to produce the initial Makefile with
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| 69 | something like this command:
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| 70 |
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| 71 | perl Makefile.PL LIB=~/perl
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| 72 |
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| 73 | The Makefile.PL program will start out by checking your perl
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| 74 | installation for a few packages that are recommended to be installed
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| 75 | together with libwww-perl.
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| 76 |
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| 77 | Optional network tests are _not_ enabled automatically when you unpack
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| 78 | this package. Consult the t/README file for instructions on how to
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| 79 | enable these tests.
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| 80 |
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| 81 |
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| 82 | DOCUMENTATION
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| 83 |
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| 84 | See lib/LWP.pm for an overview of the library. See ChangeLog for
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| 85 | recent changes. POD style documentation is included in all modules
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| 86 | and scripts. These are normally converted to manual pages and
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| 87 | installed as part of the "make install" process. You should also be
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| 88 | able to use the 'perldoc' utility to extract and read documentation
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| 89 | from the module files directly.
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| 90 |
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| 91 |
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| 92 | SUPPORT
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| 93 |
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| 94 | Question about how to use this library should be directed to the
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| 95 | comp.lang.perl.modules USENET Newsgroup. Bug reports and suggestions
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| 96 | for improvements can be sendt to the <[email protected]> mailing
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| 97 | list. This mailing list is also the place for general discussions and
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| 98 | development of the libwww-perl package.
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| 99 |
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| 100 | You can join the mailing list by sending a message to
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| 101 | <[email protected]> with "Subscribe" as subject.
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| 102 | ^^^^^^^^
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| 103 |
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| 104 | AVAILABILITY
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| 105 |
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| 106 | The latest version of libwww-perl should always be available from:
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| 107 |
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| 108 | http://www.linpro.no/lwp/
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| 109 |
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| 110 | The library is also available from the Comprehensive Perl Archive
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| 111 | Network (CPAN). Visit <URL:http://www.perl.com/CPAN/> to find a CPAN
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| 112 | site near you.
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| 113 |
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| 114 |
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| 115 | COPYRIGHT
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| 116 |
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| 117 | © 1995-1998 Gisle Aas. All rights reserved.
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| 118 | © 1995 Martijn Koster. All rights reserved.
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| 119 |
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| 120 | This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
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| 121 | it under the same terms as Perl itself.
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| 122 |
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| 123 |
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| 124 | Enjoy!
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