<sect1 id="aa-intro">
<title>Introduction</title>
<?dbhtml filename="introduction.html" dir="appendixa"?>

<para>In this appendix the following aspects of every package
installed in this book are described:</para>

<itemizedlist>

<listitem><para>the official download location for the 
package,</para></listitem>

<listitem><para>what the package contains,</para></listitem>

<listitem><para>what each program from the package does,</para></listitem>

<listitem><para>what the package needs to be compiled.</para></listitem>

</itemizedlist>

<para>Most information about these packages (especially the descriptions of
them) come from the man pages of those packages. We do not include
the entire man page, but just some key elements to make it possible to
understand what a program does. To get information on all details of a program, 
please refer to its man page or info page.</para>

<para>Certain packages are documented in more depth
than others, because we just happen to know more about certain
packages than about others. If you think anything should be added to the
following descriptions, please don't hesitate to email the mailing
lists. We intend that the list should contain an in-depth description 
of every package installed, but we can't do it without help.</para>

<para>Please note that currently only what a package does is described and not
why it needs to be installed. This may be added later.</para>

<para>Also listed are all of the installation dependencies for all the
packages that are installed in this book. The listings will include
which programs from which packages are needed to successfully compile
the package to be installed.</para>

<para>These are not running dependencies, meaning they don't tell you
what programs are needed to use that package's programs, just the ones
needed to compile it.</para>

<para>The dependency list can be, from time to time, outdated in regards
to the currently used package version. Checking dependencies takes quite a
bit of work, so they may lag behind a bit on the package update. But
often with minor package updates, the installation dependencies hardly
change, so they'll be current in most cases. When we upgrade to a major
new release, we'll make sure the dependencies are checked too.</para>

</sect1>

