##############################################################################
# edict - Your personal command line dictionary
#
# Copyright (c) 2002-2003 Vishal Verma <vermavee@users.sf.net>. 
# All rights reserved.
# 
#    This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
#    it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
#    the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
#    (at your option) any later version.
#
#    This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
#    but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
#    MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
#    GNU General Public License for more details.
#
#    You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
#    along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
#    Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA  02111-1307  USA
#
##############################################################################


WHAT IS IT?
===========

edict is a dictionary program written in PERL. edict can fetch meanings of the 
words you supply to it as arguments. edict is capable of using one of the many
user defined dictionaries to fetch the word meanings.

-------------- IMPORTANT -----------------
NOTE: Please note that edict uses various dictionary web-sites to fetch the
meanings of the words. Please read the "TERMS OF USE" of the dictionary
site before you start using it. Don't use the program if you intend to violate
the "TERMS OF USE". The author of this program will not be held responsible for 
any violations/consequences in any way. The program is provided just to 
facilitate fetching text using HTTP.
-------------- IMPORTANT -----------------

INSTALLING EDICT - UNIX
================

Just run the following command in the current directory

make install

This will install the edict program in the /usr/bin directory most probably. 
Run make without any arguments to verify that. 

If you want to install edict in a different directory, you can run the above 
command as

make prefix=/my/dir install

After that you can remove the edict directory.


INSTALLING EDICT - Windows
================

Run the following command in the edict directory

wininstall [<target dir>]

The <target dir> is optional. If you specify a <target dir>, edict will be 
installed in that very directory. 

NOTE: The <target dir> should be an absolute path. This means you SHOULD NOT say

wininstall mydir

Instead, you should say

wininstall c:\path\to\mydir

After installing edict in Windows, you should modify your PATH to include the 
<target dir>. Open the System icon in Control Panel and select the Advanced tab.
Now click on "Environment Variables..." to edit PATH.

USING EDICT
===========

On most UNIX platforms, you can run edict by typing

edict <word>

where <word> is the word for which you want to lookup the meaning.  The first line in the edict source file specifies the path of the 
PERL interpretter. If PERL is installed in a path different from /usr/bin, you can change it there.

On Win32 platforms, you'll have to run edict as

perl <edict> <word>

where <edict> is the absolute or relative path of the edict program and <word> is the word you are looking for. So an example run 
can be

perl c:\bin\edict orotund

This will display the meaning of the word "orotund" provided you have perl installed on your machine and the file c:\bin\edict exists.


Multiple words may be specified as

edict sexist misogynist dinosaur
t is possible that you don't have a direct connection to Internet and use a proxy-server. In that case you can ask edict to use a 
proxy-server by typing

edict -p server:port orotund

If you supply an invalid word to edict as:

edict junkword

you'll see the following as error:

Don't understand Swahili words like junkword! ;)

Thesaurus support is also available starting version 1.0. Type ethes instead of edict to get thesaurus entries. Rest of the options are same.

Happy edicting!
