Oracle::OCI  --  a raw Oracle 8 OCI interface for Perl 5.

  Copyright (c) 2001 Tim Bunce, England.

  You may distribute under the terms of either the GNU General Public
  License or the Artistic License, as specified in the Perl README file,
  with the exception that it cannot be placed on a CD-ROM or similar media
  for commercial distribution without the prior approval of the author.

  PLEASE READ THE ENTIRE README FILE CAREFULLY !


*** QUICK START GUIDE:

  This is not the Oracle::OCI module! This is a chunk of code that writes
  the Oracle::OCI module dynamically by reading the Oracle header files!

  This is very much an experimental alpha work-in-progress,
  but it works for me and the connect.t script connects just fine.
  (Though in the future we'll use DBD::Oracle to do such mundane stuff.)

  You'll need perl 5.6, C::Scan 0.74 and, if you want to help,
  a willingness to dig in get your hands dirty in code.

  If you've got all that, then edit the top of the 'boot' shell script
  and run it. It'll write the Oracle::OCI extension into an Oracle/OCI
  subdirectory, build it and test it for you. You may need to edit the
  connect.t script to refer to a local Oracle instance and username and
  password. It defaults to SID=ORCL and the Oracle demo user: scott/tiger.

  (Ignore the Makefile.PL for this release.)


*** IF YOU HAVE PROBLEMS:

Please fix them and send me the fix!


*** HOW TO REPORT PROGRESS:

Please don't report problems to the dbi-* mailing lists (nor to
comp.lang.perl.* or perl5-porters). This software is supported via the
oracle-oci@perl.org mailing list.  For more information and to keep
informed about progress you can join the mailing list by sending a
message to oracle-oci-help@perl.org.

It is important to check that you are using the latest version before
posting. If you're not then I'm *very* likely to simply say "upgrade to
the latest". You would do yourself a favour by upgrading beforehand.


*** And finally...

Please remember that I'm _very_ busy. Try to help yourself first,
then try to help me help you by following these guidelines carefully.
And remember, please don't mail me directly - use the mailing list.

Regards,
Tim.