README

  libpperl - Routines for maintaining one (or more) persistent perl
	     interpreters.

OVERVIEW
==========

  A persistent perl interpreter is orders of magnitude faster than a
standard perl interpreter; the improvement is obtained by pre-loading
perl code, allowing perl to parse and compile the code only once, and
then running the compiled form multiple times.

  This is the same technique as is used by the popular mod_perl package
to improve performance of perl CGIs (specifically, the Apache::Registry
implementation in mod_perl).  As such, many of the same caveats apply:
http://perl.apache.org/docs/general/perl_reference/perl_reference.html

  As with many (but not all) persistent perl interpreters, perl END
blocks are only executed when the code is unloaded rather than once per
time the code is run.  Global variables retain their contents across
invocations.  Any calls to 'exit' are trapped so that they do not cause
the process to actually terminate.

  This implementation differs from that of most persistent perl
interpreters (including mod_perl) in that it *does* invoked perl CHECK
and INIT blocks at the appropriate time (when the code is initially
loaded).


DEPENDENCIES
==============

  The following packages are required to build libpperl:

	Package		Minimum Version		FreeBSD Port
	---------------------------------------------------------------
	perl5		5.8.4			lang/perl5.8

  In addition, the following packages are not required, but recommended:

	Package		Minimum Version		FreeBSD Port
	---------------------------------------------------------------
	pkgconfig	0.17			devel/pkgconfig


  The following additional packages are required to build a distfile or
perform further development of the libpperl library:

	Package		Minimum Version		FreeBSD Port
	---------------------------------------------------------------
	autoconf	2.59			devel/autoconf259
	automake	1.9			devel/automake19
	libtool		1.5			devel/libtool15

  To build a distfile, run the make-distfile script located under the
package subdirectory.  It will checkout the latest sources from CVS,
build the configure script and Makefiles, and tar them all up into a
ready-to-distribute tar-ball in the current directory.