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   1  Bennu - An object-oriented iCalendar (RFC2445) implementation in PHP
   2  http://bennu.sourceforge.net
   3  
   4  Bennu is copyright (C) 2005 by Ioannis Papaioannou (pj@moodle.org).
   5  
   6  =======================================================================
   7      TABLE OF CONTENTS
   8  =======================================================================
   9  
  10  1. About Bennu
  11      1.1. What is Bennu?
  12      1.2. What is iCalendar?
  13      1.3. Bennu license
  14  
  15  2. Using Bennu
  16      2.1. Integrating Bennu in your application
  17      2.2. Usage examples
  18  
  19  3. Bugs and limitations
  20      3.1. Known limitations
  21  
  22  4. Contact information
  23  
  24  =======================================================================
  25  
  26  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  27  1. About Bennu
  28  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  29  
  30  1.1. What is Bennu?
  31  
  32      Bennu is a software library written in PHP that implements the 
  33      functionality of the IETF iCalendar 2.0 specification (RFC 2445). 
  34      Its purpose is to enable applications which have an interest in 
  35      this format (e.g. calendaring, scheduler and organizer programs) 
  36      to support iCalendar in an easy, powerful, and extensible way.
  37  
  38      In other words, Bennu exists so that developers working on such 
  39      applications don't have to waste painful hours going through the 
  40      standard and writing the code to implement it. Instead, they can 
  41      include this library in their application and get to the fun part 
  42      already: coding THEIR program.
  43  
  44  1.2. What is iCalendar?
  45  
  46      The iCalendar specification is a result of the work of the IETF 
  47      (Internet Engineering Task Force), Calendaring and Scheduling 
  48      Working Group. It was authored by Frank Dawson of Lotus 
  49      Development Corporation and Derik Stenerson of Microsoft 
  50      Corporation. iCalendar is heavily based on the earlier vCalendar 
  51      industry specification by the Internet Mail Consortium (IMC), 
  52      which it extends and seeks to replace.
  53      
  54      In practical terms, iCalendar is the number one format used today 
  55      by calendaring and scheduler applications to import and export 
  56      data. Applications which provide support for iCalendar include:
  57      
  58      * Microsoft Outlook
  59      * Apple iCal
  60      * Mozilla Calendar (and Mozilla Sunbird)
  61      * Mulberry
  62      * Korganizer
  63      * Ximian Evolution
  64  
  65      Effectively, this means that iCalendar is akin to a "common 
  66      language" which all these applications speak. If you are writing 
  67      an application which includes scheduling or calendaring elements, 
  68      and you want it to be able to synchronize with other such 
  69      programs, you need to support iCalendar. Bennu is an easy way to 
  70      do exactly that, as long as you are coding in PHP.
  71  
  72  1.3. Bennu license
  73  
  74      Bennu is released under the GNU Lesser General Public License 
  75      (LGPL). In short, this means that:
  76      
  77      * You are allowed to distribute and/or modify the source code of 
  78        Bennu
  79      * You are allowed to use Bennu or any modified version of it in a 
  80        commercial application
  81      * You do not have to pay any fees to use, modify, or distribute
  82        Bennu
  83      * You can charge others for distributing Bennu or derived versions
  84      * However, in ALL OF THE ABOVE CASES, you MUST provide the source 
  85        code for Bennu (or any modified version you may have produced), 
  86        and that source code MUST be provided under the GNU GPL -or- the 
  87        GNU LGPL license. Furthermore, you MUST include the original 
  88        copyright notices and credits that you received the source code 
  89        with when you distribute it INTACT.
  90      * In any case, the copyright to Bennu is retained by me, 
  91        Ioannis Papaioannou.
  92  
  93      ##################
  94      ##  DISCLAIMER  ##
  95      ##################
  96      
  97      Please be advised that the above is a very short and to the point 
  98      explanation of the GNU LGPL terms, as I understand it, and it is 
  99      only my personal opinion. IT IS NOT THE ACTUAL LICENSE UNDER WHICH 
 100      BENNU IS RELEASED. It is STRONGLY RECOMMENDED that you read the 
 101      full text of the LGPL in order to avoid any misunderstandings 
 102      which may be caused by reading my interpretation of it. You can 
 103      find the full text of the LGPL in the file LICENSE.TXT, which you 
 104      must have received as part of the Bennu distribution. If you have 
 105      not received such a file, please email me mentioning where you 
 106      obtained your copy of Bennu.
 107  
 108  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
 109  2. Using Bennu
 110  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
 111  
 112  2.1. Integrating Bennu in your application
 113  
 114      To include Bennu in your application, you only need to include one 
 115      PHP file, like this:
 116      
 117      <?php
 118         include($path_to_bennu.'/library/lib/bennu.inc.php');
 119         
 120         // the rest of your code goes here
 121      ?>
 122  
 123  2.2. Usage examples
 124  
 125      Please look at the /examples/ directory for ready-to-run examples 
 126      illustrating how Bennu is to be used. This section will be 
 127      revisited and properly written when the source code reaches an 
 128      acceptable level of features and meturity (no, I don't know when 
 129      that will be).
 130  
 131  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
 132  3. Bugs and limitations
 133  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
 134  
 135  3.1. Known limitations
 136  
 137      * LANGUAGE property parameters aren't semantically checked.
 138  
 139  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
 140  4. Contact information
 141  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
 142  
 143      You can contact me at the email address pj@moodle.org for any 
 144      suggestions, ideas, or bug reports regarding Bennu.
 145      
 146      At some point there will also be a site which you can use to do 
 147      anything related to Bennu, but sadly not today. If you want to 
 148      volunteer and give a hand, I 'll be happy to collaborate.