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1 <!-- vim: set filetype=docbkxml shiftwidth=2 autoindent expandtab tw=77 : -->
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3 <preface id="chap:preface">
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4 <?dbhtml filename="preface.html"?>
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5 <title>Preface</title>
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6
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7 <sect1>
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8 <title>Technical storytelling</title>
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9
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10 <para id="x_72e">A few years ago, when I wanted to explain why I believed
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11 that distributed revision control is important, the field was
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12 then so new that there was almost no published literature to
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13 refer people to.</para>
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14
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15 <para id="x_72f">Although at that time I spent some time working on the
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16 internals of Mercurial itself, I switched to writing this book
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17 because that seemed like the most effective way to help the
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18 software to reach a wide audience, along with the idea that
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19 revision control ought to be distributed in nature. I publish
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20 the book online under a liberal license for the same
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21 reason: to get the word out.</para>
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22
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23 <para id="x_730">There's a familiar rhythm to a good software book that
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24 closely resembles telling a story: What is this thing? Why does
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25 it matter? How will it help me? How do I use it? In this
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26 book, I try to answer those questions for distributed revision
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27 control in general, and for Mercurial in particular.</para>
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28 </sect1>
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29
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30 <sect1>
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31 <title>Thank you for supporting Mercurial</title>
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32
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33 <para id="x_731">By purchasing a copy of this book, you are supporting the
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34 continued development and freedom of Mercurial in particular,
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35 and of open source and free software in general. O'Reilly Media
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36 and I are donating my royalties on the sales of this book to the
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37 Software Freedom Conservancy (<ulink
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38 url="http://www.softwarefreedom.org/">http://www.softwarefreedom.org/</ulink>)
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39 which provides clerical and legal support to Mercurial and a
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40 number of other prominent and worthy open source software
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41 projects.</para>
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42 </sect1>
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43
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44 <sect1>
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45 <title>Acknowledgments</title>
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46
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47 <para id="x_732">This book would not exist were it not for the efforts of
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48 Matt Mackall, the author and project lead of Mercurial. He is
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49 ably assisted by hundreds of volunteer contributors across the
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50 world.</para>
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51
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52 <para id="x_733">My children, Cian and Ruairi, always stood ready to help me
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53 to unwind with wonderful, madcap little-boy games. I'd also
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54 like to thank my ex-wife, Shannon, for her support.</para>
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55
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56 <para id="x_734">My colleagues and friends provided help and support in
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57 innumerable ways. This list of people is necessarily very
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58 incomplete: Stephen Hahn, Karyn Ritter, Bonnie Corwin, James
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59 Vasile, Matt Norwood, Eben Moglen, Bradley Kuhn, Robert Walsh,
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60 Jeremy Fitzhardinge, Rachel Chalmers.</para>
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61
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62 <para id="x_735">I developed this book in the open, posting drafts of
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63 chapters to the book web site as I completed them. Readers then
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64 submitted feedback using a web application that I developed. By
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65 the time I finished writing the book, more than 100 people had
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66 submitted comments, an amazing number considering that the
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67 comment system was live for only about two months towards the
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68 end of the writing process.</para>
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69
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70 <para id="x_736">I would particularly like to recognize the following people,
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71 who between them contributed over a third of the total number of
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72 comments. I would like to thank them for their care and effort
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73 in providing so much detailed feedback.</para>
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74
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75 <para id="x_737">Martin Geisler, Damien Cassou, Alexey Bakhirkin, Till Plewe,
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76 Dan Himes, Paul Sargent, Gokberk Hamurcu, Matthijs van der
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77 Vleuten, Michael Chermside, John Mulligan, Jordi Fita, Jon
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78 Parise.</para>
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79
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80 <para id="x_738">I also want to acknowledge the help of the many people who
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81 caught errors and provided helpful suggestions throughout the
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82 book.</para>
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83
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84 <para id="x_739">Jeremy W. Sherman, Brian Mearns, Vincent Furia, Iwan
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85 Luijks, Billy Edwards, Andreas Sliwka, Paweł Sołyga, Eric
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86 Hanchrow, Steve Nicolai, Michał Masłowski, Kevin Fitch, Johan
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87 Holmberg, Hal Wine, Volker Simonis, Thomas P Jakobsen, Ted
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88 Stresen-Reuter, Stephen Rasku, Raphael Das Gupta, Ned
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89 Batchelder, Lou Keeble, Li Linxiao, Kao Cardoso Félix, Joseph
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90 Wecker, Jon Prescot, Jon Maken, John Yeary, Jason Harris,
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91 Geoffrey Zheng, Fredrik Jonson, Ed Davies, David Zumbrunnen,
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92 David Mercer, David Cabana, Ben Karel, Alan Franzoni, Yousry
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93 Abdallah, Whitney Young, Vinay Sajip, Tom Towle, Tim Ottinger,
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94 Thomas Schraitle, Tero Saarni, Ted Mielczarek, Svetoslav
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95 Agafonkin, Shaun Rowland, Rocco Rutte, Polo-Francois Poli,
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96 Philip Jenvey, Petr Tesałék, Peter R. Annema, Paul Bonser,
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97 Olivier Scherler, Olivier Fournier, Nick Parker, Nick Fabry,
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98 Nicholas Guarracino, Mike Driscoll, Mike Coleman, Mietek Bák,
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99 Michael Maloney, László Nagy, Kent Johnson, Julio Nobrega, Jord
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100 Fita, Jonathan March, Jonas Nockert, Jim Tittsler, Jeduan
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101 Cornejo Legorreta, Jan Larres, James Murphy, Henri Wiechers,
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102 Hagen Möbius, Gábor Farkas, Fabien Engels, Evert Rol, Evan
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103 Willms, Eduardo Felipe Castegnaro, Dennis Decker Jensen, Deniz
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104 Dogan, David Smith, Daed Lee, Christine Slotty, Charles Merriam,
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105 Guillaume Catto, Brian Dorsey, Bob Nystrom, Benoit Boissinot,
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106 Avi Rosenschein, Andrew Watts, Andrew Donkin, Alexey Rodriguez,
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107 Ahmed Chaudhary.</para>
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108 </sect1>
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109
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110 <sect1>
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111 <title>Conventions Used in This Book</title>
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112
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113 <para id="x_73a">The following typographical conventions are used in this
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114 book:</para>
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115
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116 <variablelist>
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117 <varlistentry>
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118 <term>Italic</term>
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119
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120 <listitem>
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121 <para id="x_73b">Indicates new terms, URLs, email addresses, filenames,
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122 and file extensions.</para>
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123 </listitem>
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124 </varlistentry>
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125
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126 <varlistentry>
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127 <term><literal>Constant width</literal></term>
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128
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129 <listitem>
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130 <para id="x_73c">Used for program listings, as well as within
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131 paragraphs to refer to program elements such as variable
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132 or function names, databases, data types, environment
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133 variables, statements, and keywords.</para>
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134 </listitem>
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135 </varlistentry>
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136
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137 <varlistentry>
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138 <term><userinput>Constant width bold</userinput></term>
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139
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140 <listitem>
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141 <para id="x_73d">Shows commands or other text that should be typed
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142 literally by the user.</para>
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143 </listitem>
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144 </varlistentry>
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145
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146 <varlistentry>
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147 <term><replaceable>Constant width italic</replaceable></term>
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148
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149 <listitem>
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150 <para id="x_73e">Shows text that should be replaced with user-supplied
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151 values or by values determined by context.</para>
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152 </listitem>
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153 </varlistentry>
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154 </variablelist>
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155
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156 <tip>
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157 <para id="x_73f">This icon signifies a tip, suggestion, or general
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158 note.</para>
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159 </tip>
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160
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161 <caution>
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162 <para id="x_740">This icon indicates a warning or caution.</para>
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163 </caution>
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164 </sect1>
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165
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166 <sect1>
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167 <title>Using Code Examples</title>
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168
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169 <para id="x_741">This book is here to help you get your job done. In general,
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170 you may use the code in this book in your programs and
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171 documentation. You do not need to contact us for permission
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172 unless you’re reproducing a significant portion of the code. For
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173 example, writing a program that uses several chunks of code from
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174 this book does not require permission. Selling or distributing a
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175 CD-ROM of examples from O’Reilly books does require permission.
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176 Answering a question by citing this book and quoting example
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177 code does not require permission. Incorporating a significant
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178 amount of example code from this book into your product’s
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179 documentation does require permission.</para>
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180
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181 <para id="x_742">We appreciate, but do not require, attribution. An
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182 attribution usually includes the title, author, publisher, and
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183 ISBN. For example: “<emphasis>Book Title</emphasis> by Some
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184 Author. Copyright 2008 O’Reilly Media, Inc.,
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185 978-0-596-xxxx-x.”</para>
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186
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187 <para id="x_743">If you feel your use of code examples falls outside fair use
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188 or the permission given above, feel free to contact us at
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189 <email>permissions@oreilly.com</email>.</para>
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190 </sect1>
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191
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192 <sect1>
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193 <title>Safari® Books Online</title>
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194
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195 <note role="safarienabled">
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196 <para id="x_744">When you see a Safari® Books Online icon on the cover of
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197 your favorite technology book, that means the book is
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198 available online through the O’Reilly Network Safari
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199 Bookshelf.</para>
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200 </note>
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201
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202 <para id="x_745">Safari offers a solution that’s better than e-books. It’s a
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203 virtual library that lets you easily search thousands of top
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204 tech books, cut and paste code samples, download chapters, and
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205 find quick answers when you need the most accurate, current
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206 information. Try it for free at <ulink role="orm:hideurl:ital"
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207 url="http://my.safaribooksonline.com/?portal=oreilly">http://my.safaribooksonline.com</ulink>.</para>
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208 </sect1>
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209
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210 <sect1>
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211 <title>How to Contact Us</title>
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212
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213 <para id="x_746">Please address comments and questions concerning this book
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214 to the publisher:</para>
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215
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216 <simplelist type="vert">
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217 <member>O’Reilly Media, Inc.</member>
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218
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219 <member>1005 Gravenstein Highway North</member>
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220
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221 <member>Sebastopol, CA 95472</member>
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222
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223 <member>800-998-9938 (in the United States or Canada)</member>
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224
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225 <member>707-829-0515 (international or local)</member>
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226
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227 <member>707 829-0104 (fax)</member>
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228 </simplelist>
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229
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230 <para id="x_747">We have a web page for this book, where we list errata,
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231 examples, and any additional information. You can access this
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232 page at:</para>
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233
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234 <simplelist type="vert">
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235 <member><ulink url="http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/<catalog
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236 page>"></ulink></member>
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237 </simplelist>
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238
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239 <remark>Don’t forget to update the <url> attribute,
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240 too.</remark>
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241
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242 <para id="x_748">To comment or ask technical questions about this book, send
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243 email to:</para>
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244
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245 <simplelist type="vert">
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246 <member><email>bookquestions@oreilly.com</email></member>
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247 </simplelist>
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248
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249 <para id="x_749">For more information about our books, conferences, Resource
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250 Centers, and the O’Reilly Network, see our web site at:</para>
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251
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252 <simplelist type="vert">
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253 <member><ulink url="http://www.oreilly.com"></ulink></member>
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254 </simplelist>
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255 </sect1>
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256 </preface>
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257
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258 <!--
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259 local variables:
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260 sgml-parent-document: ("00book.xml" "book" "preface")
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