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                           I N T E R C H A N G E

Interchange 5.7.6

Copyright (C) 2002-2010 Interchange Development Group
Copyright (C) 1996-2002 Red Hat, Inc.

Originally based on Vend 0.2 and 0.3, copyright 1995-96 by Andrew M. Wilcox.

This program is offered without warranty of any kind.
See file LICENSE for redistribution terms.

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Interchange is a web application server, electronic catalog and database
display system. Features include:

  * online ordering
  * real-time credit card processing hooks
  * high-end database access and retrieval with SQL support
  * product categorizing, merchandising, and discounting
  * basic customer relationship management
  * dynamic content presentation
  * content management
  * internationalization and localization support
  * real-time tax and shipping hooks
  * reporting
  * possibility of web-based administration

Interchange requires Perl 5.8.5 or later, on a Unix-like operating system.

Interchange also requires some non-standard Perl modules to be installed on
your system. Unless you are installing from distribution-specific packages
(Red Hat, Debian, ...), the quick way to install the necessary support is to
run:

  perl -MCPAN -e 'install Bundle::Interchange'

If you would like to use a specific version of Perl, simply invoke
Perl with an absolute path to the Perl binary, such as

  /usr/local/bin/perl -MCPAN -e 'install Bundle::Interchange'

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More information is in the following files and directories:

LICENSE
The text of the GNU General Public License (GPL), under which the Interchange
software is distributed.

README.rpm-dist
Notes on using Interchange when installed from RPM packages.

README.debian
Notes on using Interchange when installed from Debian packages.

README-DEVELOPMENT
How to access the Git repository to track ongoing development.

WHATSNEW-*
Changes per specified version family.

UPGRADE
Instructions on how to upgrade from an earlier Interchange version.

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Major files and directories in the distribution:

Makefile.PL    Script to create a Makefile, used for installation.
               (run ./configure for usage instructions)

dist/          The distribution files, exclusive of executable
               files and modules. Includes:

               interchange.cfg.dist   Distribution-default interchange.cfg
               standard/              Demo catalog skeleton, used by makecat
               src/                   C and Perl code for CGI link programs
               lib/                   Back-end administrative interface
               code/                  Usertags and other customizable code

hints.pl       OS-specific configuration settings. None currently used.

eg/            Various helper scripts and addons.

lib/           The library modules needed to run Interchange.

scripts/       The executable files, relocated to bin/ in the install
               directory.

relocate.pl    Script that adjusts paths in scripts/ for installation into
               bin/.

test.pl        The installation test script.

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                          I N S T A L L A T I O N

You can install Interchange as root for a multi-user system-wide setup, or
as an unprivileged user who will be the only one modifying Interchange files.

Here is the quick installation summary:

    tar xvzf interchange-5.7.6.tar.gz
    cd interchange-5.7.6
    perl Makefile.PL
    make
    make test
    make install

If you would like to use a specific version of Perl, simply invoke
perl with an absolute path to the Perl binary, such as

    /usr/local/bin/perl Makefile.PL

The build procedure asks where you'd like to install Interchange and
the name of the user account that will own the installation.

The Interchange server doesn't do much if it isn't servicing one or more
actual catalogs, so you next need to make your first Interchange catalog,
as described in the next section.

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                                 D E M O

There is a demo catalog skeleton (called 'standard') included.

To build your own catalog from the demo, go to the directory where you
installed Interchange (default is "interchange" in your home directory,
/usr/local/interchange for root installations, or /usr/lib/interchange
for RPM installations) and run:

    bin/makecat

Follow the prompts and after restarting the Interchange server you
should be able to access the new instance of the demo catalog.

Please note that some functionality (notably the reporting features)
may not be available if you are not using an SQL database such as
MySQL or PostgreSQL.

Visit http://demo.icdevgroup.org/ to try out a live demo.

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                         D O C U M E N T A T I O N

A documentation package is available, with documentation in many different
formats. This and other information is available at the Interchange home on
the web:

http://www.icdevgroup.org/

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                         C O M P A T I B I L I T Y

Interchange is regularly tested on various Linux distributions and FreeBSD.
It has also been used on Mac OS X, Solaris, OpenBSD, Digital UNIX/Tru64, SCO,
AIX, and other Unix variants. It should work on any Unix with sufficiently
high Perl version number and the necessary Perl modules.

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