NAME

	App::Manager - installing/managing/uninstalling software packages.

WHAT IT IS

        This module traces any dynamically linked program for
        filesystem-modifying calls such as rename, open64, unlink, remove
        etc. It will save all the files before they were modified. It can
        then undo and redo the changes as often as you want.

EXAMPLE

	Here is a short walk-through:

        Say, you've just compiled gimp (http://www.gimp.org) in
        /usr/src/gimp and want to install it.  You are not sure wether you
        want to overwrite your old gimp installation (in case anything
        breaks), or maybe you want to be able to cleanly uninstall it
        later, in case you don't like it.

        Ok, so, instead of a plain "make install" you enter:

        appman install gimp make install

        I.e. you start appman with the install command for database "gimp"
        (database = the place where the diff is stored). The last two
        arguments are just the standard "make install" command.

        If you want to switch back to the old situation, all you need to do is:

        appman swap gimp

        And the contents of the database gimp are exchanged with the
        filesystem, i.e. the new gimp files are removed and are being
        replaced by their old versions (if any). If you call this command
        again, the installation is re-done (that why it is called "swap").

        "perldoc appman" might be even more enlightening ;)

INSTALLATION

	All databases are (currently) stored in one central directory which defaults
        to /var/appman. If you do not like this you can overwrite it at configuration time:

        perl Makefile.PL LIBDIR=/some/other/dir

        

