This is the README file for DeCSS 0.06. DeCSS is a utility for stripping Cascading Style Sheet (CSS) tags from an HTML page. That's all it does. It has no relationship whatsoever to encryption, copy protection, movies, software freedom, oppressive industry cartels, Web site witch hunts, or any other bad things that could get you in trouble. LICENSE ------- This software is copyright 2000 by Mr. Bad of Pigdog Journal (http://www.pigdog.org/). Yes, that is a pseudonym. Yes, that is legal. It's released to you under the Artistic License (the same license as perl uses), which is included with this package. Please feel free to redistribute it as much as possible, preferably on your Web site. Actually, feel MORALLY OBLIGED to redistribute it. INSTALLATION ------------ DeCSS requires perl 5 to be on your system. You can get all kinds of great perl stuff at: http://www.perl.com/ Linux/Unix Installation ----------------------- Copy the DeCSS file included in this package to somewhere in your execution path. chmod it so that it's executable. Then, type: DeCSS -h for usage information. Win32 Installation ------------------ Copy the DeCSS file included in this package to somewhere that you like to keep Perl scripts. You can then run: perl full\path\to\DeCSS -h for usage information. DOCUMENTATION ------------- Like all good Perl software, this utility is self-documenting, using pod. To view the documentation, run this command: perldoc DeCSS You may need to do: perldoc /full/path/to/DeCSS or: perldoc \full\path\to\DeCSS ...depending on which way you swing. MIRROR ------ It's QUITE IMPORTANT to put up lots of mirrors of the DeCSS software. To make it easier, there's now an HTML page called "decss_mirror.html" included in this distribution. You can create a quick mirror by copying the contents of the software package you downloaded, plus the package itself, to your Web server. You can use decss_mirror.html "out-of-the-box" or as a starting point for your own mirror page. DON'T FEEL OBLIGED to use this page, though -- you can mirror DeCSS however you want. I didn't include any links to any "real" DeCSS pages, because I don't know the litigation risk in doing that. After exploring the issue, you may want to add a link to one of those sites on your page. A NOTE ON TROJAN HORSES ----------------------- Some people have suggested using this DeCSS as a trojan horse to distribute other software. As this package is originally distributed, it has no secret stuff in it. What you see is what you get. I'd appreciate it if folks did not use this package to make trojan horses. If people want to distribute software on their Web sites that may get them in a jam, please let them make that decision on their own. If you're feeling a little worried about this, please download DeCSS from its original distribution point at: http://www.pigdog.org/decss/ I, Mr. Bad, give you my solemn word that I will not try to make you distribute software that I know ahead of time will get you in trouble. If you found out I did this, you can come punch me in the stomach three times, real hard. FINAL NOTE ---------- Hats off to all the innumerable people who have developed and distributed software to protect your and my freedom. They're the heroes of the Internet age.