software.html

---
title: Software
---

 <h1>The Software</h1>
 	<p>
 	<a href="http://www.perl.org/" title="OpenGuides is Proudly Powered by Perl!">
 	<img src="img/powered_by_perl.png" id="powered_by_perl" alt="Powered by Perl"></a>
 	The OpenGuides system is <a href="http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html"
 	title="What is Free Software? (at gnu.org)">free software</a>, written in <a
 	href="http://www.perl.org/">Perl</a>. It is available for <a
 	href="http://search.cpan.org/dist/OpenGuides/" style="font-weight: bold">download</a>
 	from the <a href="http://www.cpan.org/"><acronym title="Comprehensive Perl Archive Network">CPAN</acronym></a>.
 	To see what's new in the latest version, consult the <a
 	href="release_notes.html">release notes</a>.
 	</p>
 	<h2>System Requirements</h2>
 	<p>
 	To run OpenGuides, you will need a webserver capable of running Perl, and
 	a number of Perl modules as prerequisites, all of which are also available
 	from the CPAN. We recommend installing OpenGuides via <a
 	href="http://search.cpan.org/dist/CPAN/">CPAN.pm</a> or the newer <a
 	href="http://search.cpan.org/dist/CPANPLUS/">CPANPLUS.pm</a>, as these will
 	handle the installation of prerequisites for you. Alternatively, if you run a
 	<a href="http://www.debian.org/" title="Debian GNU/Linux">Debian</a> system,
 	you can install OpenGuides with "apt". Full details and packages are available
 	at the <a href="http://www.larted.org.uk/~dom/debian/openguides/">package home
 	page</a>.
 	</p>
 	<h2>Installation</h2>
 	<p>
 	General documentation is being developed on the
 	<a href="http://dev.openguides.org/wiki/OnlineDocumentation">development wiki</a>;
 	you may also find the <a href="https://urchin.earth.li/svn/openguides/trunk/INSTALL">INSTALL</a>
 	file that comes with the software useful.
 	</p>
 	<h2>Hosting</h2>
 	<p>
 	If you don't have your own webserver to run a Guide on, two people are kindly
 	offering to help out. In the UK, contact Dominic Hargreaves (dom(at)earth.li);
 	in the US, Christopher Schmidt (crschmidt(at)crschmidt.net).
 	</p>
 	<h2>Help and Troubleshooting</h2>
 	<p>
 	Some common issues are dealt with in <a
 	href="https://urchin.earth.li/svn/openguides/trunk/TROUBLESHOOTING">TROUBLESHOOTING</a>.
 	If you have other problems, please get in touch with us via the <a
 	href="lists.html">mailing list</a> or <a href="irc.html">IRC</a>.
 	</p>
 	<h2>Reporting Bugs and Suggesting Features</h2>
 	<p>
 	You can use <a href="http://dev.openguides.org/">dev.openguides.org</a> to report bugs and
make feature suggestions.
 	</p>