Perl-RPM - Native bindings to the RPM Package Manager API for Perl

Version 0.28 (sixth alpha)


WHAT IS IT

The Perl-RPM package is an attempt to provide Perl-level access to the complete
application programming interface that is a part of the RPM Package Manager
(RPM). Rather than have scripts rely on executing RPM commands and parse the
resultant output, this modules aims to provide Perl programmers the ability
to do anything that would otherwise have been done in C or C++.

The interface is being designed and laid out as a collection of classes, at
least some of which are also available as tied-hash implementations.

At this time, the interface only provides access to the database of installed
packages, and header data retrieval for RPM and SRPM files not yet installed.
Error management and the export of most defined constants, through RPM::Error
and RPM::Constants respectively, is also available.


BUILDING/INSTALLING

This package is set up to configure and build like a typical Perl extension.
To build:

        perl Makefile.PL
        make && make test

If the RPM package passes all tests, then:

        make install

You may need super-user access to install.


PROBLEMS/BUG REPORTS

Please send any reports of problems or bugs to rjray@blackperl.com.


MAILING LIST

There is now a mailing list for Perl-RPM. For details, see:

	https://listman.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/perl-rpm-list


CHANGES

This is the sixth release. Full details are itemized in the ChangeLog file,
but the primary changes in this release are:

* Much more documentation in RPM::Constants (including some corrections)

* A fix to error-return values in RPM::Header and RPM::Database.

* A new method in the RPM::Header class called source_name(). When a header
  object is created from a file, ftp or http source, the name or URI is saved
  for future reference.

* Fixed a blocking problem when trying to read more than one header from a
  ftp source.


LICENSE

This package is Copyright (C) 2000 by Randy J. Ray (rjray@blackperl.com). You
may distribute this under the terms of Artistic License, as specified in the
README file of Perl itself. Please see the file ARTISTIC in your distribution
of Perl.