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


The libwww-perl collection is a set of Perl modules which provides a
simple and consistent application programming interface to the
World-Wide Web.  The main focus of the library is to provide classes
and functions that allow you to write WWW clients. The library also
contain modules that are of more general use and even classes that
help 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 was 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 still 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, and
offers lots of extended functionality.



PREREQUISITES

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

  URI
  MIME-Base64
  HTML-Parser
  libnet
  Digest-MD5

These packages should be available on CPAN (see below).

If you want to access sites using the https protocol, then you need to
install the Crypt::SSLeay or the IO::Socket::SSL module.  The
README.SSL file will tell you more about how libwww-perl supports SSL.



INSTALLATION

You install libwww-perl using the normal perl module distribution drill:

   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 LIB=~/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.



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.



SUPPORT

Questions 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 sent to the <libwww@perl.org> 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-subscribe@perl.org>.
       ^^^^^^^^^^


AVAILABILITY

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

     http://www.linpro.no/lwp/

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.



COPYRIGHT

  © 1995-2004 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!
