2 L I B W W W - P E R L - 5
3 -----------------------------
6 The libwww-perl collection is a set of Perl modules which provides a
7 simple and consistent application programming interface to the
8 World-Wide Web. The main focus of the library is to provide classes
9 and functions that allow you to write WWW clients. The library also
10 contain modules that are of more general use and even classes that
11 help you implement simple HTTP servers.
13 There are actually two versions of libwww-perl: one for Perl4, and one
14 for Perl5. Both have a similar architecture, loosely based on the CERN
15 Library of Common Code (nowadays known as 'w3c-libwww').
17 The Perl4 version was maintained by Roy Fielding, and was the
18 basis for tools such as MOMSpider. The perl4 version of libwww-perl
19 and much more information about its libraries can still be found at:
20 http://www.ics.uci.edu/pub/websoft/libwww-perl/
22 The Perl5 version (this package) is a complete rewrite for Perl5: the
23 code is organized in Modules, provides an Object Oriented API, and
24 offers lots of extended functionality.
30 In order to install and use this package you will need Perl version
31 5.005 or better. Some modules within this package depend on other
32 packages that are distributed separately from Perl. We recommend that
33 you have the following packages installed before you install
43 These packages should be available on CPAN (see below).
45 If you want to access sites using the https protocol, then you need to
46 install the Crypt::SSLeay or the IO::Socket::SSL module. The
47 README.SSL file will tell you more about how libwww-perl supports SSL.
53 You install libwww-perl using the normal perl module distribution drill:
60 You can edit the configuration section of Makefile.PL to select which
61 programs to install in addition to the library itself. If you don't
62 want to install any programs (only the library files) and don't want
63 to mess with the Makefile.PL then pass the '-n' option to Makefile.PL:
67 If you want to install a private copy of libwww-perl in your home
68 directory, then you should try to produce the initial Makefile with
69 something like this command:
71 perl Makefile.PL LIB=~/perl
73 The Makefile.PL program will start out by checking your perl
74 installation for a few packages that are recommended to be installed
75 together with libwww-perl.
81 See ./lib/LWP.pm for an overview of the library. See ./ChangeLog for
84 POD style documentation is included in all modules and scripts. These
85 are normally converted to manual pages and installed as part of the
86 "make install" process. You should also be able to use the 'perldoc'
87 utility to extract and read documentation from the module files
94 Questions about how to use this library should be directed to the
95 comp.lang.perl.modules USENET Newsgroup. Bug reports and suggestions
96 for improvements can be sent to the <libwww@perl.org> mailing
97 list. This mailing list is also the place for general discussions and
98 development of the libwww-perl package.
100 You can join the mailing list by sending a message to
101 <libwww-subscribe@perl.org>.
107 The latest version of libwww-perl is available from CPAN:
109 http://search.cpan.org/dist/libwww-perl/
111 If you want to hack on the source it might be a good idea to grab the
112 latest version with git using the command:
114 git clone git://gitorious.org/libwww-perl/mainline.git lwp
116 You can also browse the git repository at:
118 http://gitorious.org/projects/libwww-perl
124 © 1995-2008 Gisle Aas. All rights reserved.
125 © 1995 Martijn Koster. All rights reserved.
127 This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
128 it under the same terms as Perl itself.