#!perl -w
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use Pod::Checker;
podchecker(\*DATA);
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=head1 NAME

README - Carbon API for perl on Mac OS X

=head1 SYNOPSIS

This is B<not release-quality> software.  It is still in development, and
not recommend for use in a production environment.

Mac::Carbon is a collection of perl modules for accessing the Carbon API
under Mac OS X.  It is a port of the Toolbox modules written by Matthias
Neeracher for MacPerl.

Part of the current strategy is to make Mac::Carbon the intersection of
the old and new Mac OS APIs.  We will not be adding new functionality
from Carbon, except as needed, for now.  This may change over time as
Mac::Carbon stabilizes.

See the documentation in L<Mac::Carbon> for more implementation details,
bugs, etc.


=head1 HELP ME

There are probably a lot of bugs, especially in F<Carbon.h>.  Bugs are listed
in L<Mac::Carbon/"Known Bugs">; please feel free to report them on the MacPerl bug
reporting page, in the "Mac Toolbox" category.  Patches are welcome,
too, of course.  For large patches, such as stuff for test suites and
building, please do coordinate with me before spending much time on it.

	http://sf.net/projects/macperl/


=head1 REQUIREMENTS

=head2 Mac OS

These modules all build under Mac OS, but it is recommended you build them
as a part of MacPerl itself, or at least under the MacPerl source.  See
http://dev.macperl.org/ for more information.

Under Mac OS, the full Mac OS API is available, not just the Carbon-compatible
routines.

=head2 Mac OS X

To build these modules on Mac OS X, the Developer Tools are required.

The Test::More module is required for running tests.

The separate Mac::Errors module is not required, but is highly recommended.

These modules have only been tested with perl 5.6.0 on Mac OS X.  See
the note in L<BUILDING>.

The modules will compile and test remotely (such as via ssh, instead of
via the Terminal), but some of the tests might not run properly, and
one of the tests (for Mac::Notification) wants user feedback (though will
work without it).


=head1 BUILDING

Matthias added some extensions to XS for his Toolbox modules; they were
never fully embraced by p5p, and as a result, we have a separate xsubpp
for these additional XS macros. There is currently no resolution to this
problem.  Either we write a pre-preprocessor that converts the .xs files
to be able to be handled by perl's xsubpp, or we modify the .xs so that
it can be handled by perl's xsubpp, or we distribute a separate xsubpp
(which is dangerous, as xsubpp changes with versions of perl).

Currently, Mac::Carbon is distributed with the already-processed .c files.
If you really want to compile with the .xs files, you can use the xsubpp
programs (either the 5.6 or 5.8 versions) included in the distribution.
This is only temporary, until we have a permanent resolution to these
issues.

You might want to run the test suite with C<make test TEST_VERBOSE=1>.
It's cool.


=head1 SUPPORTED MODULES

Currently, only a subset of the modules are supported.  The ported
modules are:

	Mac::Components
	Mac::Files
	Mac::Gestalt
	Mac::Memory
	Mac::MoreFiles
	Mac::Notification
	Mac::Processes
	Mac::Resources
	Mac::Sound
	Mac::Speech
	Mac::Types

Coming next, hopefully:

	Mac::AppleEvents
	Mac::OSA

Mac::AppleEvents is going to take more work than the others, as it
involves some significant API changes.

Following those, the pure-perl modules, which should not take much
work, as long as the core XS modules they rely on are working:

	Mac::AppleEvents::Simple
	Mac::OSA::Simple
	Mac::Glue

And, possibly:

	Mac::InternetConfig
	Mac::SpeechRecognition

There are currently no plans for the other (GUI) modules, including:

	Mac::Controls
	Mac::Dialogs
	Mac::Events
	Mac::Fonts
	Mac::Lists
	Mac::Menus
	Mac::Movies
	Mac::Navigation
	Mac::QDOffScreen
	Mac::QuickDraw
	Mac::QuickTimeVR
	Mac::TextEdit
	Mac::Windows

We could do these eventually, if there is enough interest.  They don't
port as easily as some of the others, for many reasons, not the least of
which is that we need a framework to handle events etc., which for
MacPerl is mostly implemented in F<macish.c> / F<macish.h>.


=head1 AUTHOR

The Mac Toolbox modules were written by Matthias Neeracher
E<lt>neeracher@mac.comE<gt>.  They are currently maintained by Chris
Nandor E<lt>pudge@pobox.comE<gt>.


=head1 VERSION

$Id: README,v 1.1 2002/11/13 02:04:50 pudge Exp $