Source Code Distribution

Copyright (c) 1999, 2003 by Michael J. Roberts.  All Rights Reserved.

This is the C++ source code for TADS 3.  In order to help make TADS

available on a wide range of computer systems, we're distributing

this source code.  TADS 3 and this source code are copyrighted works,

so please read the license information below if you're going to use

these files.  We want to keep TADS consistent in features and

functionality across all of the different computers it works on, so

we ask that you do not make any changes to this code beyond what is

necessary to make TADS work on your type of computer system.  In

addition, the author retains the rights to TADS and any derivative

works based on this source code.

If your main interest in TADS is for writing or playing a game, you

probably don't need this source code, since executable versions of

TADS are available for a number of platforms.  This source code is

meant primarily for people who want to port TADS to new systems,

or track down and fix problems with the system code itself.

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HOW TO PORT TADS 3 TO A NEW PLATFORM

To use this code, you will need a C++ compiler, and you may have to

do some C or C++ coding to customize TADS to your system, in order to

build a working version of TADS from this source code.

This code depends upon the TADS 2 Operating System Interface (osifc)

layer, which is not included with this distribution.  You can obtain

the TADS 2 source code, including TADS 2 osifc implementations for

many operating systems, via FTP from

  ftp://ftp.ifarchive.org/if-archive/programming/tads2/source

(Note that ftp.ifarchive.org is the new home, effective August 2001,

of the former ftp.gmd.de archive.)

TADS 3 uses the identical osifc implementation that TADS 2 uses.

This means that if TADS 2 has been ported to your operating system,

you will probably not have to write any new code to port TADS 3 - all

you'll have to do is create a makefile (or your local equivalent) and

build TADS 3 using the same osifc implementation files that you used

for TADS 2.

If TADS 2 has not already been ported to your system, you must first

write the code necessary to implement the osifc layer for your

platform.  You don't need to port all of TADS 2, but you must port at

least the osifc code.  Refer to the file PORTNOTE.TXT in the TADS 2

source code distribution for information on how to do this.

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CONTACTING THE AUTHOR

Please contact the author by email at mjr_@hotmail.com if you have

any questions or comments about TADS or the license information below.

In addition, if you port this software to a new platform, the author

would be grateful to hear about any changes you had to make to the

portable code to make TADS work on your computer.  It is the author's

goal that the portable part of the code will compile and run without

any changes at all on every system to which TADS is ported.  When

problems do occur, the author will try to incorporate any necessary

corrections into the main code base in an effort to ensure that the

same portability exceptions don't recur in future versions.

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COPYRIGHT INFORMATION

TADS 3 is "freeware," which means that it's copyrighted software that

the author makes available free of charge but subject to certain

conditions.  Please see the accompanying license file LICENSE.TXT for

license information.