Readme for Net::CDDB Internet CDDB Database Server Queries with Perl Copyright (c) 1999, Jeremy D. Zawodny BACKGROUND This is the README file for Net::CDDB. The Net::CDDB home page is located at: http://www.wcnet.org/~jzawodn/perl/Net-CDDB/ There may be bugs in the code as well as in the documentation. If you find either, I'd appreciate a patch or at least a mail message to let me know what's wrong. Net::CDDB has been developed and tested on Linux. It should work on other platforms, provided that Perl5 and the IO modules are available. If you install it on another platform, I'd like to hear about it. If you develop patches for that platform, I'd REALLY like to hear about it. Send me a note. There's nothing that I know to be platform-dependent in here yet, but you never know. VERSIONS The numbering of Net::CDDB is based completely on the revision number that RCS assigns to the CDDB.pm file. This means that it is unlike traditional Perl modules (they normally start with version 0.1). As a result, some releases may contain updates to some modules but not others. I will do my best to release them in a sensible manner. If you're in doubt, always check the ChangeLog file in the distribution to see what's new. REQUIREMENTS The following stuff is required to make this really work: * Perl 5.004 or newer * The IO bundle from CPAN * Software to calculate CDDB discids (see TOOLS, below) I highly suggest that you acquaint yourself with the use of the CPAN shell to make installing the necessary libraries easy. Once you get it working the first time, it is very easy to upgrade any of the modules to newer versions. (Try `man CPAN' on a Unix box for details.) INSTALLATION Installing Net::CDDB is an easy process. % perl Makefile.PL % make % make test % make install DOCUMENTATION The documentation is included in the distribution in POD format. When you ran the 'make install' above, documentation should have been installed on your system such that 'perldoc Net::CDDB' will spit something out. Of course, you can run your favorite POD converter and generate it in alternative formats. (`man perlpod' for details.) EXAMPLES (This section is not yet up to date...) The following scripts are included in the `examples' directory. They are provided as examples only. Each example contains the necessary documentation (either in the form of POD code, or just as comments or command-line help). There may or may not also be a README file in the `examples' directory that contains some helpful information. What you do with the examples is your business. t.pl A simple test script. TOOLS There are many tools for calculating the disc info needed to query the CDDB. Some of the more popular CD ``rippers'' (such as cdda2wav) can extract the needed informaton. However, not being happy with having to use a whole different software package to do the job, I wrote a small C program that does exactly what I need and no more. As a result, the program is quite small. So, check your favorite CD ripper. If it doesn't do the job, grab my discid program and see if it does the trick for you. I will eventually re-write it in Perl and include it in this distribution, but untill then you can grab it from the following address: http://www.wcnet.org/~jzawodn/c/discid/ WISHLIST If you're wondering what will come next in Net::CDDB, see the Wishlist file in the distribution directory. ANNOUNCEMENT MAILING LIST If you'd like to be informed of new releases automatically, send me an e-mail message. I will add you to the list of folks who are notified automatically every time a new version is released. DEVELOPMENT MAILING LIST There currently is no development mailing list, because I only know of one other person working on this code. However, if several people become interested in helping, I will create a list so that we can all share code and ideas. $Id: README,v 1.3 1999/01/09 23:57:38 jzawodn Exp $