52.1 Introduction

This book comes with a companion CD-ROM that contains source code and binaries for the programs described in the book.

There are two groups of files on the CD-ROM:

• Freely available programs that we liked and wrote about in the book. Most of these programs are written in C and are distributed in both source and binary form. We compiled the binaries for each of the platforms listed in article 52.3 , and fully tested those for Red Hat Linux and Digital UNIX.

• Scripts that we wrote or adapted ourselves, and wanted to share with our readers.

In selecting freely available software to put on the disc, we've tried to emphasize quality over quantity. Too many free software archives load you up with anything and everything they can find, without evaluating whether or not it's worthwhile. You're faced with the job of wading through everything to figure out whether it's worth using or not.

like this

Every program or script on the CD-ROM is at least mentioned somewhere in this book. Near the first or most important of those mentions, it's got a disc icon in the margin, with the name of the program underneath. Our idea was that as you read about a program you like, you could simply install it (as described in article 52.5 ) and have it added to your private stock of power tools. (You can also add them all at once, and just use them as you read about them!) This chapter is designed to give you some background information about the software:

• A quick summary of what's on the disc (article 52.4 ).

• What versions of UNIX the programs are already compiled for (article 52.3 ).

• A detailed description of the installation procedure (article 52.5 ).

• How to get a CD-ROM drive if you don't already have one (article 52.6 ).

• How to get the software from the online archive (files marked with a * in article 52.4 , instructions in article 52.7 ) and on alternate media.

• How to build the software from the source code if you don't have one of the supported platforms (article 52.8 ).

• How to get software support or porting help (article 52.9 ).