@c Copyright (C) 1993 Karl Berry
@c For copying conditions, see the file copying.texi.

@node Introduction
@chapter Introduction

@cindex introduction
@cindex fundamental purpose

This manual corresponds to version @value{version} of the Kpathsearch
library, released in @value{month-year}.

The library's fundamental purpose is to look up a file in a list of
directories specified by the user.

@cindex programs using the library
The following software, all of which I maintain, uses this library:

@itemize @bullet
@item web2c
@item Xdvik
@item Dvipsk (@pxref{Top, , Introduction, dvipsk, Dvips: A DVI driver})
@item GNU font utilities (@pxref{Top, , Introduction, fontu, GNU font
utilities})
@end itemize

@cindex interface, not frozen
The library is still under development. I do not promise to keep the
interface unchanged.  If you have comments or suggestions, please send
them to me (@pxref{Bugs} for the address).

@cindex conditions for use
@cindex license for using the library
@cindex GNU General Public License
Currently, I distribute the library under the GNU General Public License
(@pxref{Copying}).  In summary, this means if you write a program using
the library, you must (offer to) distribute the source, and allow anyone
to modify the source and distribute their modifications.

@cindex GNU Library General Public License
If you have a problem with this, please contact me. I would consider
putting the library under the GNU Library General Public License, which
would permit you to distribute the source only to the library, not the
your program using it.  But I will only do this if someone actually says
they will not use the library under the GPL conditions, and would use it
under the LGPL.

This manual contains a few references to the C source for the library;
they're there to help programmers reconcile my statements in this
documentation with the Awful Truth of the code.  If you're not a
programmer, just ignore them.
