			 +-----------------------+
			 |        PERLTEX        |
			 |                       |
			 | Defining LaTeX macros |
			 | in terms of Perl code |
			 |                       |
			 |    By Scott Pakin,    |
			 |     pakin@uiuc.edu    |
			 +-----------------------+


Description
===========

PerlTeX is a combination Perl script (perltex) and LaTeX2e style file
(perlmacros) that, together, give the user the ability to define LaTeX
macros in terms of Perl code.  Once defined, a Perl macro becomes
indistinguishable from any other LaTeX macro.  PerlTeX thereby combines
LaTeX's typesetting power with Perl's programmability.


Installation
============

In case it's not obvious, you'll need a Perl installation.  Perl is freely
available and runs on dozens of platforms.  See the list of Perl binary
distributions on CPAN (http://www.cpan.org/ports/index.html).

Execute "latex perltex.ins" to generate perlmacros.sty and perltex.pl.
Install perlmacros.sty in an appropriate directory (e.g.,
/usr/local/share/texmf/tex/latex/misc or C:\localtexmf\tex\latex\misc).
perltex.pl is a Perl script.  On Unix, you may want to rename it to just
"perltex" and set execute permissions ("chmod +x perltex").  On Windows,
you may want to create a batch-file wrapper for it ("pl2bat perltex.pl").
In either case, perltex should be installed somewhere in your executable
path (e.g., /usr/local/bin).

It's not necessary to produce the documentation as PerlTeX comes with
prebuilt documentation in PDF format (perltex.pdf).  However, if you want
to build the documentation yourself (e.g., to use A4 paper instead of
U.S. Letter), run "latex perltex.dtx" twice, then "makeindex -s gind.ist
perltex.idx", then "latex perltex.dtx" again, then "dvips perltex.dvi -o
perltex.ps" if you want to produce PostScript.


License
=======

Copyright (C) 2003 by Scott Pakin

These files may be distributed and/or modified under the conditions of the
LaTeX Project Public License, either version 1.2 of this license or (at
your option) any later version.  The latest version of this license is in
http://www.latex-project.org/lppl.txt and version 1.2 or later is part of
all distributions of LaTeX version 1999/12/01 or later.
