                     L I B W W W - P E R L - 5
                   -----------------------------

Libwww-perl is a collection of Perl modules which provides a simple
and consistent programming interface (API) to the World-Wide Web.  The
main focus of the library is to provide classes and functions that
allow you to write WWW clients, thus libwww-perl said to be a WWW
client library. The library also contain modules that are of more
general use and even classes that helps you implement simple HTTP
servers.

There are actually two versions of libwww-perl: one for Perl4, and one
for Perl5. Both have a similar architecture, loosely based on the CERN
Library of Common Code (nowadays known as 'w3c-libwww').

The Perl4 version is still maintained by Roy Fielding, and was the
basis for tools such as MOMSpider. The perl4 version of libwww-perl
and much more information about its libraries can be found at:
http://www.ics.uci.edu/pub/websoft/libwww-perl/

The Perl5 version (this package) is a complete rewrite for Perl5: the
code is organized in Modules, provides an Object Oriented API, is
updated for the latest HTTP and URL specification, and offers some
extended functionality.


AVAILABILITY

The latest version of libwww-perl should always be available from:

     http://www.sn.no/libwww-perl/

The library is also available from the Comprehensive Perl Archive
Network (CPAN).  Visit <URL:http://www.perl.com/CPAN/> to find a CPAN
site near you.


PREREQUISITES

In order to install and use this package you will need Perl version
5.004 or better.  Some modules within this package depend on packages
that are distributed separately from perl.  We recommend that you have
the following packages installed before you install libwww-perl:

  MIME-Base64-#.##
  libnet-#.##
  MD5-#.##

These packages should be available on CPAN (described above).


INSTALLATION

You install libwww-perl, as you would install any perl module library,
by running these commands:

   perl Makefile.PL
   make
   make test
   make install

You can edit the configuration section of Makefile.PL to select which
programs to install in addition to the library itself.  If you don't
want to install any programs (only the library files) and don't want
to mess with the Makefile.PL then pass the '-n' option to Makefile.PL:

   perl Makefile.PL -n

If you want to install a private copy of libwww-perl in your home
directory, then you should try to produce the initial Makefile with
something like this command:

  perl Makefile.PL PREFIX=~/perl

The Makefile.PL program will start out by checking your perl
installation for a few packages that are recommended to be installed
together with libwww-perl.

Optional network tests are _not_ enabled automatically when you unpack
this package.  Consult the t/README file for instructions on how to
enable these tests.


DOCUMENTATION

See lib/LWP.pm for an overview of the library. See ChangeLog for
recent changes.  POD style documentation is included in all modules
and scripts.  These are normally converted to manual pages and
installed as part of the "make install" process.  You should also be
able to use the 'perldoc' utility to extract and read documentation
from the module files directly.


THE HTML MODULES ARE STILL ALPHA

The HTML::* modules should still be regarded as being in some kind of
alpha state.  The interfaces provided by these modules might very well
change in future releases of this library.  You are warned!


SUPPORT

Question about how to use this library should be directed to the
comp.lang.perl.modules USENET Newsgroup.  Bug reports and suggestions
for improvements can be sendt to the <libwww-perl@ics.uci.edu> mailing
list.  This mailing list is also the place for general discussions and
development of the libwww-perl package.

You can join the mailing list by sending a message to
<libwww-perl-request@ics.uci.edu> with "Subscribe" as subject.
            ^^^^^^^^

COPYRIGHT

  © 1995-1997 Gisle Aas. All rights reserved.
  © 1995 Martijn Koster. All rights reserved.

This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
it under the same terms as Perl itself.


Enjoy!
