version 0.43
====================

Provides the same version objects as included in Perl v5.9.0 (and hopefully in
the 5.10.0 release).  In fact, if you attempt to use this module with a version
of Perl >= v5.9.0, this module will not do anything, since the code already
exists in the Perl core.

IMPORTANT NOTE: This release is a major rewrite of the internal code and
also changes how different version objects are stringified in a way that is
inconsistent with prior releases.

In particular, if a version object is created as a "Quoted Version"
(multiple decimal places, using qv(), or as a v-string), it will always
stringify with at least 3 terms (2 decimal places), as well as with a leading
'v' character.  This may lead to inconsistencies with Perl < 5.8.1 if the
stringified version is eval()'d (so don't do that!).  This may more closely
approximate the version object behavior in Perl6 (where the leading 'v'
notation will mean version instead of v-string).  There is no guarantee
that this behavior will persist.

In addition, the use of two significant digits with an alpha release
(e.g. 1.23_01, common with some CPAN releases) is now fully supported and
will stringify in the same way as was input (with the possible addition of
trailing zeros, e.g. 1.23_010, to make up multiples of three digits).

Please read the POD documentation for usage/details.

INSTALLATION

To install this module type the following:

   perl Makefile.PL
   make
   make test
   make install

DEPENDENCIES

the same C compiler used to build Perl

COPYRIGHT AND LICENCE

This module can be distributed under the same terms as Perl.

Copyright (C) 2004,2005 John Peacock

