README for Net::ICal::VTIMEZONES
================================

This module isn't really a module at all. It's a set of data files
for timezones across platforms. These are derived from the Olsen
timezone database on Unix systems. They're expressed here in
the VTIMEZONE format specified by RFC 2445. 

With proper use of Net::ICal and these files, you can use these
files to find out the UTC offset and daylight-savings-time
switchover information for any timezone in the world. 
These are intended to be used on any platform that Perl runs on.
However, they've been tested mostly on Unix variants. For more
information on bug reporting, read on. 

================================================================
WARNING: THIS IS AN ALPHA RELEASE. 
If it breaks, you get to keep both pieces. 
If you have trouble with it, please submit a bug report
to the reefknot-devel list. Thanks.

We know the installer is somewhat odd; it will, for example,
install the VTIMEZONE files on "make" instead of "make install".
If you have ExtUtils::MakeMaker wizardry, please help us fix
this.
================================================================

INSTALLING:

    perl Makefile.PL
    make
    make test
    make install

This process will attempt to determine whether you already have
the VTIMEZONE files installed by Evolution.  Usually, they live
in /usr/share/libical-evolution/zoneinfo.  If you do, it'll
assume those are authoritative and will just write out a
Net::ICal::Config noting this information. If you don't already
have a set of VTIMEZONE files, it will install them in
$PREFIX/share/zoneinfo.

To install in your own local directory, do "perl Makefile.PL
PREFIX=/home/myuser"; this will put the timezone files
in /home/myuser/share/zoneinfo.

(Obviously, this is somewhat unix-specific. We don't intend it to
be, and we've left space in the installer for other OSes. Please
feel free to mail patches for your OS to the developers' list.)

BUG REPORTING:

We expect that most bug reports for this package will have to do
with the installer scripts, not with the actual timezone files.
If you have a problem with the actual timezone information, feel
free to tell us, but we may not be able to do much about it. (See
"A note on sources" below for why.)

Anyway: Bug reports should go to the packager, <srl@cpan.org>,
with a CC to <reefknot-devel@lists.sf.net>. If you want to
discuss your bug in a sustained fashion, you should probably join
the developers' list, since the list is moderated. See
http://reefknot.sf.net for more details on how to join.

A NOTE ON SOURCES:

These data files were originally created by the "libical" package
distributed with the Evolution groupware client. Sources for that
package are available in the GNOME CVS repository. For more information
on that repository, see

    http://developer.gnome.org/tools/cvs.html

It is not our intention to fork the timezone files; this archive is
simply a repackaging of those files for more convenient use by Perl
users on multiple platforms. For full credits information, see
the original libical sources.  

LICENSE:

These data files are released under the GNU General Public
License, in keeping with the license options of libical. 
For more information, see the file COPYING in this archive.

AUTHOR:

Shane Landrum, <srl@cpan.org>, and the rest of the Reefknot team.
For more information on the Reefknot project, which builds
standards-compatible calendaring tools in Perl, see
http://reefknot.sf.net. 
