WHAT IS THIS? ============= This software distribution contains the following packages for using Perl5 "pod" (Plain Old Documentation). See the "perlpod" and "perlsyn" manual pages from your Perl5 distribution for more information about pod. Pod::Parser ----------- The Perl5 module "Pod::Parser", which provides a base class for parsing and selecting sections of POD documentation from an input stream. Please see the POD documentation for this module (embedded in the file "Parser.pm") for more details. Pod::Select ----------- The Perl5 module "Pod::Select", which provides a subclass of Pod::Parser and an exported function named "podselect()" to dump selected sections of raw pod documentation from an input stream. Please see the POD documentation for this module (embedded in the file "Select.pm") and Pod::Parser for more details. Pod::Usage ---------- The Perl5 module "Pod::Usage" which provides the function "pod2usage()" to print usage messages for a Perl script based on its embedded pod documentation. Pod::Usage is a subclass of Pod::PlainText. Please see the POD documentation for this module (embedded in the file "Usage.pm") for more details. The pod2usage() function is probably the most generally useful function in this entire distribution since it is useful to just about any Perl5 script that is invoked from the command-line. Pod::PlainText -------------- A replacement for the Perl5 module "Pod::Text" and the corresponding "pod2text()" function. It is derived from the Pod::Parser class. Please see the POD documentation for this module and Pod::Parser for more details (embedded in the file "PlainText.pm"). *NOTE*: As of perl 5.00_58, Pod::PlainText has been re-written by Russ Allbery, and has been renamed to Pod::Text in the core Perl distribution (replacing the previous implementation of Pod::Text). The Pod::PlainText module is still provided with Pod::Parser on CPAN solely for backward compatibility. Once Perl 5.6 becomes the latest stable version of Perl, then Pod::PlainText will be removed from the PodParser distribution!! Pod::InputObjects ----------------- Some input objects needed by Pod::Parser, and for advanced users of Pod::Parser that need more about a command besides its name and text. Pod::Checker ------------ A module to check the syntax of a POD document. It is just in the very beginning stages right now and is *far* from being thorough or complete. Its just a starting point that I hope others who plan to use it can help me flesh it out further. This module also collects information about hyperlink nodes of the document processed that can be used by converters later on. Pod::ParseUtils --------------- A module with several object-oriented helpers for POD parsing and processing. Probably the most important is Pod::Hyperlink for parsing and expanding POD hyperlinks L<...>. AUTHORS/CONTRIBUTORS ==================== Brad Appleton http://www.enteract.com/~bradapp/ Russ Allbery Marek Rouchal ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ================ * Kenneth Albanowski for his extensive assistance with the design and interface of Pod::Parser. * Steven McDougall for his help and patience with re-writing the manpage for Pod::Usage and Pod::Parser. * Achim Bonnet for helping me get the regression test-suite into a form that works with 'make test' generated by MakeMaker * Nick Ing-Simmons, for his considerable time and effort spent trying to make pre-release versions of Pod::Parser work with code and giving me feedback on the implementation and design. * Russ Allbery for re-writing Pod::PlainText from scratch and getting it to replace Pod::Text in the core for perl 5.00_58! COPY/REUSE POLICY ================= Except where explicitly stated otherwise within the contents of a file, this distribution and all the files in it are Copyright (C) 1996-1999 by Brad Appleton. All rights reserved. PodParser is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the Artistic License distributed with Perl version 5.000 or (at your option) any later version. Please refer to the Artistic License that came with your Perl distribution for more details. If your version of Perl was not distributed under the terms of the Artistic License, than you may distribute PodParser under the same terms as Perl itself. The Artistic License should have been included in your distribution of Perl. It resides in the file named "Artistic" at the top-level of the Perl source tree (where Perl was downloaded/unpacked -- ask your system administrator if you dont know where this is). Alternatively, the current version of the Artistic License distributed with Perl can be viewed on-line on the World-Wide Web (WWW) from the following URL: http://www.perl.com/perl/misc/Artistic.html The latest version of Perl can be obtained on the World-Wide web (WWW) from the following URL: http://www.perl.com/CPAN/src/latest.tar.gz DISCLAIMER =========== This software is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but is provided "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, either expressed or implied, INCLUDING, without limitation, the implied warranties of MERCHANTABILITY and FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. The ENTIRE RISK as to the quality and performance of the software IS WITH YOU (the holder of the software). Should the software prove defective, YOU ASSUME THE COST OF ALL NECESSARY SERVICING, REPAIR OR CORRECTION. IN NO EVENT WILL ANY COPYRIGHT HOLDER OR ANY OTHER PARTY WHO MAY CREATE, MODIFY, OR DISTRIBUTE THE SOFTWARE BE LIABLE OR RESPONSIBLE TO YOU OR TO ANY OTHER ENTITY FOR ANY KIND OF DAMAGES (no matter how awful - not even if they arise from known or unknown flaws in the software). Please refer to the Artistic License that came with your Perl distribution for more details. CONTENTS ======== Please see the file named "MANIFEST" which should have been included in the PodParser distribution. REQUIREMENTS ============ * Perl version 5.005 or later * File::Spec from CPAN (already bundled in Perl 5.005) at least version 0.8, previous ones lack some functions needed here BUILDING & INSTALLING ===================== Please see the perl "ExtUtils::MakeMaker" manpage for how to build and install using the Makefile.PL template. In a nutshell, simply typing: perl Makefile.PL should build a Makefile with the usual targets like "all", "clean", "test", and "install". BUGS ==== Please send all bug reports to Brad Appleton . TO DO ===== Please see the file named "TODO" which should have been included in the PodParser distribution. HISTORY ======= Please see the file named "CHANGES" which should have been included in the PodParser distribution.