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+=head1 NAME
+
+perlfaq2 - Obtaining and Learning about Perl ($Revision: 1.16 $, $Date: 1997/04/23 18:04:09 $)
+
+=head1 DESCRIPTION
+
+This section of the FAQ answers questions about where to find
+source and documentation for Perl, support and training, and
+related matters.
+
+=head2 What machines support Perl?  Where do I get it?
+
+The standard release of Perl (the one maintained by the perl
+development team) is distributed only in source code form.  You can
+find this at http://www.perl.com/CPAN/src/latest.tar.gz, which is a
+gzipped archive in POSIX tar format.  This source builds with no
+porting whatsoever on most Unix systems (Perl's native environment),
+as well as Plan 9, VMS, QNX, OS/2, and the Amiga.
+
+Although it's rumored that the (imminent) 5.004 release may build
+on Windows NT, this is yet to be proven.  Binary distributions
+for 32-bit Microsoft systems and for Apple systems can be found
+http://www.perl.com/CPAN/ports/ directory.  Because these are not part of
+the standard distribution, they may and in fact do differ from the base
+Perl port in a variety of ways.  You'll have to check their respective
+release notes to see just what the differences are.  These differences
+can be either positive (e.g. extensions for the features of the particular
+platform that are not supported in the source release of perl) or negative
+(e.g. might be based upon a less current source release of perl).
+
+A useful FAQ for Win32 Perl users is
+http://www.endcontsw.com/people/evangelo/Perl_for_Win32_FAQ.html
+
+=head2 How can I get a binary version of Perl?
+
+If you don't have a C compiler because for whatever reasons your
+vendor did not include one with your system, the best thing to do is
+grab a binary version of gcc from the net and use that to compile perl
+with.  CPAN only has binaries for systems that are terribly hard to
+get free compilers for, not for Unix systems.
+
+Your first stop should be http://www.perl.com/CPAN/ports to see what
+information is already available.  A simple installation guide for
+MS-DOS is available at http://www.cs.ruu.nl/~piet/perl5dos.html , and
+similarly for Windows 3.1 at http://www.cs.ruu.nl/~piet/perlwin3.html
+.
+
+=head2 I don't have a C compiler on my system.  How can I compile perl?
+
+Since you don't have a C compiler, you're doomed and your vendor
+should be sacrificed to the Sun gods.  But that doesn't help you.
+
+What you need to do is get a binary version of gcc for your system
+first.  Consult the Usenet FAQs for your operating system for
+information on where to get such a binary version.
+
+=head2 I copied the Perl binary from one machine to another, but scripts don't work.
+
+That's probably because you forgot libraries, or library paths differ.
+You really should build the whole distribution on the machine it will
+eventually live on, and then type C<make install>.  Most other
+approaches are doomed to failure.
+
+One simple way to check that things are in the right place is to print out
+the hard-coded @INC which perl is looking for.
+
+	perl -e 'print join("\n",@INC)'
+
+If this command lists any paths which don't exist on your system, then you
+may need to move the appropriate libraries to these locations, or create
+symlinks, aliases, or shortcuts appropriately.
+
+You might also want to check out L<perlfaq8/"How do I keep my own
+module/library directory?">.
+
+=head2 I grabbed the sources and tried to compile but gdbm/dynamic loading/malloc/linking/... failed.  How do I make it work?
+
+Read the F<INSTALL> file, which is part of the source distribution.
+It describes in detail how to cope with most idiosyncracies that the
+Configure script can't work around for any given system or
+architecture.
+
+=head2 What modules and extensions are available for Perl?  What is CPAN?  What does CPAN/src/... mean?
+
+CPAN stands for Comprehensive Perl Archive Network, a huge archive
+replicated on dozens of machines all over the world.  CPAN contains
+source code, non-native ports, documentation, scripts, and many
+third-party modules and extensions, designed for everything from
+commercial database interfaces to keyboard/screen control to web
+walking and CGI scripts.  The master machine for CPAN is
+ftp://ftp.funet.fi/pub/languages/perl/CPAN/, but you can use the
+address http://www.perl.com/CPAN/CPAN.html to fetch a copy from a
+"site near you".  See http://www.perl.com/CPAN (without a slash at the
+end) for how this process works.
+
+CPAN/path/... is a naming convention for files available on CPAN
+sites.  CPAN indicates the base directory of a CPAN mirror, and the
+rest of the path is the path from that directory to the file.  For
+instance, if you're using ftp://ftp.funet.fi/pub/languages/perl/CPAN
+as your CPAN site, the file CPAN/misc/japh file is downloadable as
+ftp://ftp.funet.fi/pub/languages/perl/CPAN/misc/japh .
+
+Considering that there are hundreds of existing modules in the
+archive, one probably exists to do nearly anything you can think of.
+Current categories under CPAN/modules/by-category/ include perl core
+modules; development support; operating system interfaces; networking,
+devices, and interprocess communication; data type utilities; database
+interfaces; user interfaces; interfaces to other languages; filenames,
+file systems, and file locking; internationalization and locale; world
+wide web support; server and daemon utilities; archiving and
+compression; image manipulation; mail and news; control flow
+utilities; filehandle and I/O; Microsoft Windows modules; and
+miscellaneous modules.
+
+=head2 Is there an ISO or ANSI certified version of Perl?
+
+Certainly not.  Larry expects that he'll be certified before Perl is.
+
+=head2 Where can I get information on Perl?
+
+The complete Perl documentation is available with the perl
+distribution.  If you have perl installed locally, you probably have
+the documentation installed as well: type C<man perl> if you're on a
+system resembling Unix.  This will lead you to other important man
+pages.  If you're not on a Unix system, access to the documentation
+will be different; for example, it might be only in HTML format.  But
+all proper perl installations have fully-accessible documentation.
+
+You might also try C<perldoc perl> in case your system doesn't
+have a proper man command, or it's been misinstalled.  If that doesn't
+work, try looking in /usr/local/lib/perl5/pod for documentation.
+
+If all else fails, consult the CPAN/doc directory, which contains the
+complete documentation in various formats, including native pod,
+troff, html, and plain text.  There's also a web page at
+http://www.perl.com/perl/info/documentation.html that might help.
+
+It's also worth noting that there's a PDF version of the complete
+documentation for perl available in the CPAN/authors/id/BMIDD
+directory.
+
+Many good books have been written about Perl -- see the section below
+for more details.
+
+=head2 What are the Perl newsgroups on USENET?  Where do I post questions?
+
+The now defunct comp.lang.perl newsgroup has been superseded by the
+following groups:
+
+    comp.lang.perl.announce 		Moderated announcement group
+    comp.lang.perl.misc     		Very busy group about Perl in general
+    comp.lang.perl.modules  		Use and development of Perl modules
+    comp.lang.perl.tk           	Using Tk (and X) from Perl
+
+    comp.infosystems.www.authoring.cgi 	Writing CGI scripts for the Web.
+
+There is also USENET gateway to the mailing list used by the crack
+Perl development team (perl5-porters) at
+news://genetics.upenn.edu/perl.porters-gw/ .
+
+=head2 Where should I post source code?
+
+You should post source code to whichever group is most appropriate,
+but feel free to cross-post to comp.lang.perl.misc.  If you want to
+cross-post to alt.sources, please make sure it follows their posting
+standards, including setting the Followup-To header line to NOT
+include alt.sources; see their FAQ for details.
+
+=head2 Perl Books
+
+A number books on Perl and/or CGI programming are available.  A few of
+these are good, some are ok, but many aren't worth your money.  Tom
+Christiansen maintains a list of these books, some with extensive
+reviews, at http://www.perl.com/perl/critiques/index.html.
+
+The incontestably definitive reference book on Perl, written by the
+creator of Perl and his apostles, is now in its second edition and
+fourth printing.
+
+    Programming Perl (the "Camel Book"):
+	Authors: Larry Wall, Tom Christiansen, and Randal Schwartz
+        ISBN 1-56592-149-6      (English)
+        ISBN 4-89052-384-7      (Japanese)
+	(French and German translations in progress)
+
+Note that O'Reilly books are color-coded: turquoise (some would call
+it teal) covers indicate perl5 coverage, while magenta (some would
+call it pink) covers indicate perl4 only.  Check the cover color
+before you buy!
+
+What follows is a list of the books that the FAQ authors found personally
+useful.  Your mileage may (but, we hope, probably won't) vary.
+
+If you're already a hard-core systems programmer, then the Camel Book
+just might suffice for you to learn Perl from.  But if you're not,
+check out the "Llama Book".  It currently doesn't cover perl5, but the
+2nd edition is nearly done and should be out by summer 97:
+
+    Learning Perl (the Llama Book):
+	Author: Randal Schwartz, with intro by Larry Wall
+        ISBN 1-56592-042-2      (English)
+        ISBN 4-89502-678-1      (Japanese)
+        ISBN 2-84177-005-2      (French)
+        ISBN 3-930673-08-8      (German)
+
+Another stand-out book in the turquoise O'Reilly Perl line is the "Hip
+Owls" book.  It covers regular expressions inside and out, with quite a
+bit devoted exclusively to Perl:
+
+    Mastering Regular Expressions (the Cute Owls Book):
+	Author: Jeffrey Friedl
+	ISBN 1-56592-257-3
+
+You can order any of these books from O'Reilly & Associates,
+1-800-998-9938.  Local/overseas is 1-707-829-0515.  If you can locate
+an O'Reilly order form, you can also fax to 1-707-829-0104.  See
+http://www.ora.com/ on the Web.
+
+Recommended Perl books that are not from O'Reilly are the following:
+
+   Cross-Platform Perl, (for Unix and Windows NT)
+       Author: Eric F. Johnson
+       ISBN: 1-55851-483-X
+
+   How to Set up and Maintain a World Wide Web Site, (2nd edition)
+	Author: Lincoln Stein, M.D., Ph.D.
+	ISBN: 0-201-63462-7
+
+   CGI Programming in C & Perl,
+	Author: Thomas Boutell
+	ISBN: 0-201-42219-0
+
+Note that some of these address specific application areas (e.g. the
+Web) and are not general-purpose programming books.
+
+=head2 Perl in Magazines
+
+The Perl Journal is the first and only magazine dedicated to Perl.
+It is published (on paper, not online) quarterly by Jon Orwant
+(orwant@tpj.com), editor.  Subscription information is at http://tpj.com
+or via email to subscriptions@tpj.com.
+
+Beyond this, two other magazines that frequently carry high-quality
+articles on Perl are Web Techniques (see
+http://www.webtechniques.com/) and Unix Review
+(http://www.unixreview.com/).  Randal Schwartz's Web Technique's
+columns are available on the web at
+http://www.stonehenge.com/merlyn/WebTechniques/ .
+
+=head2 Perl on the Net: FTP and WWW Access
+
+To get the best (and possibly cheapest) performance, pick a site from
+the list below and use it to grab the complete list of mirror sites.
+From there you can find the quickest site for you.  Remember, the
+following list is I<not> the complete list of CPAN mirrors.
+
+  http://www.perl.com/CPAN	(redirects to another mirror)
+  http://www.perl.org/CPAN
+  ftp://ftp.funet.fi/pub/languages/perl/CPAN/
+  http://www.cs.ruu.nl/pub/PERL/CPAN/
+  ftp://ftp.cs.colorado.edu/pub/perl/CPAN/
+
+http:/www.oasis.leo.org/perl/ has, amongst other things, source to
+versions 1 through 5 of Perl.
+
+=head2 What mailing lists are there for perl?
+
+Most of the major modules (tk, CGI, libwww-perl) have their own
+mailing lists.  Consult the documentation that came with the module for
+subscription information.  The following are a list of mailing lists
+related to perl itself.
+
+If you subscribe to a mailing list, it behooves you to know how to
+unsubscribe from it.  Strident pleas to the list itself to get you off
+will not be favorably received.
+
+=over 4
+
+=item MacPerl
+
+There is a mailing list for discussing Macintosh Perl.  Contact
+"mac-perl-request@iis.ee.ethz.ch".
+
+Also see Matthias Neeracher's (the creator and maintainer of MacPerl)
+webpage at http://www.iis.ee.ethz.ch/~neeri/macintosh/perl.html for
+many links to interesting MacPerl sites, and the applications/MPW
+tools, precompiled.
+
+=item Perl5-Porters
+
+The core development team have a mailing list for discussing fixes and
+changes to the language.  Send mail to
+"perl5-porters-request@perl.org" with help in the body of the message
+for information on subscribing.
+
+=item NTPerl
+
+This list is used to discuss issues involving Win32 Perl 5 (Windows NT
+and Win95). Subscribe by emailing ListManager@ActiveWare.com with the
+message body:
+
+    subscribe Perl-Win32-Users
+
+The list software, also written in perl, will automatically determine
+your address, and subscribe you automatically.  To unsubscribe, email
+the following in the message body to the same address like so:
+
+    unsubscribe Perl-Win32-Users
+
+You can also check http://www.activeware.com/ and select "Mailing Lists"
+to join or leave this list.
+
+=item Perl-Packrats
+
+Discussion related to archiving of perl materials, particularly the
+Comprehensive PerlArchive Network (CPAN). Subscribe by emailing
+majordomo@cis.ufl.edu:
+
+    subscribe perl-packrats
+
+The list software, also written in perl, will automatically determine
+your address, and subscribe you automatically.  To unsubscribe, simple
+prepend the same command with an "un", and mail to the same address
+like so:
+
+    unsubscribe perl-packrats
+
+=back
+
+=head2 Archives of comp.lang.perl.misc
+
+Have you tried Deja News or Alta Vista?
+
+ftp.cis.ufl.edu:/pub/perl/comp.lang.perl.*/monthly has an almost
+complete collection dating back to 12/89 (missing 08/91 through
+12/93).  They are kept as one large file for each month.
+
+You'll probably want more a sophisticated query and retrieval mechanism
+than a file listing, preferably one that allows you to retrieve
+articles using a fast-access indices, keyed on at least author, date,
+subject, thread (as in "trn") and probably keywords.  The best
+solution the FAQ authors know of is the MH pick command, but it is
+very slow to select on 18000 articles.
+
+If you have, or know where can be found, the missing sections, please
+let perlfaq-suggestions@perl.com know.
+
+=head2 Perl Training
+
+While some large training companies offer their own courses on Perl,
+you may prefer to contact individuals near and dear to the heart of
+Perl development.  Two well-known members of the Perl development team
+who offer such things are Tom Christiansen <perl-classes@perl.com>
+and Randal Schwartz <perl-training-info@stonehenge.com>, plus their
+respective minions, who offer a variety of professional tutorials
+and seminars on Perl.  These courses include large public seminars,
+private corporate training, and fly-ins to Colorado and Oregon.
+See http://www.perl.com/perl/info/training.html for more details.
+
+=head2 Where can I buy a commercial version of Perl?
+
+In a sense, Perl already I<is> commercial software: It has a licence
+that you can grab and carefully read to your manager. It is
+distributed in releases and comes in well-defined packages. There is a
+very large user community and an extensive literature.  The
+comp.lang.perl.* newsgroups and several of the mailing lists provide
+free answers to your questions in near real-time.  Perl has
+traditionally been supported by Larry, dozens of software designers
+and developers, and thousands of programmers, all working for free
+to create a useful thing to make life better for everyone.
+
+However, these answers may not suffice for managers who require a
+purchase order from a company whom they can sue should anything go
+wrong.  Or maybe they need very serious hand-holding and contractual
+obligations.  Shrink-wrapped CDs with perl on them are available from
+several sources if that will help.
+
+Or you can purchase a real support contract.  Although Cygnus historically
+provided this service, they no longer sell support contracts for Perl.
+Instead, the Paul Ingram Group will be taking up the slack through The
+Perl Clinic.  The following is a commercial from them:
+
+"Do you need professional support for Perl and/or Oraperl?  Do you need
+a support contract with defined levels of service?  Do you want to pay
+only for what you need?
+
+"The Paul Ingram Group has provided quality software development and
+support services to some of the world's largest corporations for ten
+years.  We are now offering the same quality support services for Perl
+at The Perl Clinic.  This service is led by Tim Bunce, an active perl
+porter since 1994 and well known as the author and maintainer of the
+DBI, DBD::Oracle, and Oraperl modules and author/co-maintainer of The
+Perl 5 Module List.  We also offer Oracle users support for Perl5
+Oraperl and related modules (which Oracle is planning to ship as part
+of Oracle Web Server 3).  20% of the profit from our Perl support work
+will be donated to The Perl Institute."
+
+For more information, contact the The Perl Clinic:
+
+    Tel:    +44 1483 424424
+    Fax:    +44 1483 419419
+    Web:    http://www.perl.co.uk/
+    Email:  perl-support-info@perl.co.uk or Tim.Bunce@ig.co.uk
+
+=head2 Where do I send bug reports?
+
+If you are reporting a bug in the perl interpreter or the modules
+shipped with perl, use the perlbug program in the perl distribution or
+email your report to perlbug@perl.com.
+
+If you are posting a bug with a non-standard port (see the answer to
+"What platforms is Perl available for?"), a binary distribution, or a
+non-standard module (such as Tk, CGI, etc), then please see the
+documentation that came with it to determine the correct place to post
+bugs.
+
+Read the perlbug man page (perl5.004 or later) for more information.
+
+=head2 What is perl.com?  perl.org?  The Perl Institute?
+
+perl.org is the official vehicle for The Perl Institute.  The motto of
+TPI is "helping people help Perl help people" (or something like
+that).  It's a non-profit organization supporting development,
+documentation, and dissemination of perl.  Current directors of TPI
+include Larry Wall, Tom Christiansen, and Randal Schwartz, whom you
+may have heard of somewhere else around here.
+
+The perl.com domain is Tom Christiansen's domain.  He created it as a
+public service long before perl.org came about.  It's the original PBS
+of the Perl world, a clearinghouse for information about all things
+Perlian, accepting no paid advertisements, glossy gifs, or (gasp!)
+java applets on its pages.
+
+=head2 How do I learn about object-oriented Perl programming?
+
+L<perltoot> (distributed with 5.004 or later) is a good place to start.
+Also, L<perlobj>, L<perlref>, and L<perlmod> are useful references,
+while L<perlbot> has some excellent tips and tricks.
+
+=head1 AUTHOR AND COPYRIGHT
+
+Copyright (c) 1997 Tom Christiansen and Nathan Torkington.
+All rights reserved.  See L<perlfaq> for distribution information.