FRAMEWORK FOR PORTABLE DATABASE APPLICATIONS ---------------------------------------------------------------------- by Darren Duncan CONTENTS * Preface * Keeping Up To Date * Dependencies * Support * Bugs * Credits * Copyright And License PREFACE See the file lib/Rosetta/Framework.pod for the main Rosetta documentation. The "Rosetta" framework is divided across multiple distributions, and the distribution you are holding now includes its core modules. All of the other *.pod and *.pm files have framework or individual module documentation in POD format, so you should read those too. The distribution also includes a ChangeLog file to say what changes already happened, and a TODO file to say what changes have yet to happen. The file INSTALL should help with installation issues. Read below for how to get support or keep up to date, know this distribution's dependencies, or read the credits or copyright and license. KEEPING UP TO DATE My module set is constantly under development. You should be able to find the newest versions at my website, "http://www.DarrenDuncan.net", on the page called "Perl Libraries I Made" (name subject to change). They can also be found on CPAN under the author name of "DUNCAND". I am inclined to update the copies on my web site more often, but those intermediate versions are more likely to have been tested less, and the modules may be updated day by day without increasing the version numbers. However, the copies on CPAN are guaranteed to have unique version numbers when the module has changed. DEPENDENCIES All of my modules require Perl 5.004 or newer, even though only some of them need it, in the interest of consistency. That said, Perl 5.004 is already 3 years old, is available as a binary on practically every OS that supports Perl at all, and is a very solid release, so I see no reason to support anything older. The Rosetta core modules don't require anything else. SUPPORT Currently I don't have any support arranged with other people, lists, newsgroups, or otherwise. Feel free to ask me if you can't figure things out on your own, or another person whom you know has used this. I may start a mailing list for support issues later, so that users of my modules can help each other with them. BUGS It appears that the Pod::Man with Perl 5.6.0 (and perhaps other versions) doesn't support the "head3" directive. I would have liked to use this in lib/Rosetta/SimilarModules.pod, but can't so my level 3 headings there are one-line paragraphs instead. CREDITS ... to write ... COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE This file is part of the Rosetta database abstraction framework. Rosetta is Copyright (c) 1999-2003, Darren R. Duncan. All rights reserved. Address comments, suggestions, and bug reports to B, or visit "http://www.DarrenDuncan.net" for more information. Rosetta is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License (GPL) version 2 as published by the Free Software Foundation (http://www.fsf.org/). You should have received a copy of the GPL as part of the Rosetta distribution, in the file named "LICENSE"; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307 USA. Any versions of Rosetta that you modify and distribute must carry prominent notices stating that you changed the files and the date of any changes, in addition to preserving this original copyright notice and other credits. Rosetta is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GPL for more details. Linking Rosetta statically or dynamically with other modules is making a combined work based on Rosetta. Thus, the terms and conditions of the GPL cover the whole combination. As a special exception, the copyright holders of Rosetta give you permission to link Rosetta with independent modules that communicate with Rosetta solely through the "Driver" interface (because they are interfaces to or implementations of databases), regardless of the license terms of these independent modules, and to copy and distribute the resulting combined work under terms of your choice, provided that every copy of the combined work is accompanied by a complete copy of the source code of Rosetta (the version of Rosetta used to produce the combined work), being distributed under the terms of the GPL plus this exception. An independent module is a module which is not derived from or based on Rosetta, and which is fully useable when not linked to Rosetta in any form. Note that people who make modified versions of Rosetta are not obligated to grant this special exception for their modified versions; it is their choice whether to do so. The GPL gives permission to release a modified version without this exception; this exception also makes it possible to release a modified version which carries forward this exception. While it is by no means required, the copyright holders of Rosetta would appreciate being informed any time you create a modified version of Rosetta that you are willing to distribute, because that is a practical way of suggesting improvements to the standard version. FIN Share and Enjoy!