--- Urlader/README	2012/01/02 09:23:03	1.1
+++ Urlader/README	2012/01/04 14:19:05	1.2
@@ -0,0 +1,93 @@
+NAME
+    Urlader - installer-less single-file independent executables
+
+SYNOPSIS
+     use Urlader;
+
+DESCRIPTION
+    Urlader (that's german for "bootloader" btw.) was created out of
+    frustration over PAR again not working, again not being flexible enough
+    for simple things, and again causing mysterious missing files issues on
+    various platforms.
+
+    That doesn't mean this module replaces PAR, in fact, you should stay
+    with it for many reasons, user-friendlyness is one of them.
+
+    However, if you want to make single-file distributions out of your perl
+    programs (or python, or C or whatever), and you are prepared to fiddle a
+    LOT, this module might provide a tiny step towards your goal. Well, if
+    it ever gets finished.
+
+    Also, *nothing in this module is considered very stable yet*, and it's
+    far from feature-complete.
+
+    Having said all that, Urlader basically provides three services:
+
+    A simple archiver that packs a directory tree into a single file.
+    A small C program that works on windows and unix, which unpacks an
+    attached archive and runs a program.
+    A perl module support module (*this one*), that can be used to query the
+    runtime environment, find out where to install updates and so on.
+
+EXAMPLE
+    How can it be used to provide single-file executables?
+
+    So simple, create a directory with everything that's needed, e.g.:
+
+       # find bintree
+       bintree/perl
+       bintree/libperl.so.5.10
+       bintree/run
+       bintree/pm/Guard.pm
+       bintree/pm/auto/Guard/Guard.so
+
+       # cat bintree/run
+       @INC = ("pm", "."); # "." works around buggy AutoLoader
+       use Guard;
+       guard { warn "hello, world!\n" }; # just to show off
+       exit 0; # tell the urlader that everything was fine
+
+    Then pack it:
+
+       # wget http://urlader.schmorp.de/prebuilt/1.0/linux-x86
+       # urlader-util --urlader linux-x86 --pack myprog ver1_000 bintree \
+                      LD_LIBRARY_PATH=. ./perl run \
+                      >myprog
+       # chmod 755 myprog
+
+CONCEPTS
+    urlader
+        A small (hopefully) and relatively portable (hopefully) binary that
+        is prepended to a pack file to make it executable.
+
+        You can build it yourself from sources (see prebuilt/Makefile in the
+        distribution) or use one of the precompiled ones at:
+
+           http://urlader.schmorp.de/prebuilt/1.0/
+
+        The README there has further information on the binaries provided.
+
+    exe_id
+        A string that uniquely identifies your program - all branches of it.
+        It must consist of the characters "A-Za-z0-9_-" only and should be a
+        valid directory name on all systems you want to deploy on.
+
+    exe_ver
+        A string the uniquely identifies the contents of the archive, i.e.
+        the version. It has the same restrictions as the "exe_id", and
+        should be fixed-length, as Urlader assumes lexicographically higher
+        versions are newer, and thus preferable.
+
+    pack file (archive)
+        This contains the "exe_id", the "exe_ver", a number of environment
+        variable assignments, the program name to execute, the initial
+        arguments it receives, and finally, a list of files (with contents
+        :) and directories.
+
+    override
+
+FUNCTIONS AND VARIABLES IN THIS MODULE
+AUTHOR
+     Marc Lehmann <schmorp@schmorp.de>
+     http://home.schmorp.de/
+