smtm --- A global stock ticker for X11 and Windoze


1. Introduction
   
   smtm, which is a not overly clever acronym for Show Me The Money, is a
   financial ticker and portfolio application for quotes from exchanges
   around the world (provided they are carried on Yahoo!). It creates and 
   automatically updates a window with quotes from Yahoo! Finance. It can 
   also display the entire variety of charts available at Yahoo! Finance. 
   When called with one or several symbols, it displays these selected
   stocks. When smtm is called without arguments, it reads the symbols
   tickers from a file, by default ~/.smtmrc. This file can be created
   explicitly by calling the Save option from the File menu. Beyond stocks,
   smtm can also display currencies (from the Philadephia exchange), US
   mutual funds, options on US stocks, several precious metals and quite
   possibly more; see the Yahoo! Finance website for full information. 


2. How to get started
   
   Built using Perl/Tk it requires at least the following modules
   
   	  Date::Manip
	  Finance::YahooQuote
	  LWP::UserAgent
	  MIME::Base64
	  HTML::Parser
	  Tk	
          Tk::PNG

   all of which are readily available for most Unix variants, Linux
   distributions and the ActiveState Perl implementation common on win*.
   
   Debian users just say 'apt-get install smtm'. 

   For others, and following Perl convention, the installation should work as

         perl Makefile.PL # optionally "perl Makefile.PL verbose"
         make
	 make test	  # the tests are somewhat limited	 
         make install     

   but I do not test this regularly as I install the Debian packages myself.
   

3. How to use it

   'smtm --help' gives a brief synopis, 'perldoc smtm' shows the full manual 
   page.  Several options are available and can be set from both a resource
   file ~/.smtmrc, the command-line and the menus once smtm is running.

   Additional resource files, e.g. for additional portfolios, are available
   in the examples/ directory of the source distribution.

   But the simplest case is possibly to just supply ticker symbols on the 
   command-line:  'smtm DELL IBM MSFT'.


4. Disclaimer (taken straight from the GPL)

				 NO WARRANTY

     11. BECAUSE THE PROGRAM IS LICENSED FREE OF CHARGE, THERE IS NO WARRANTY
   FOR THE PROGRAM, TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW.  EXCEPT WHEN
   OTHERWISE STATED IN WRITING THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND/OR OTHER PARTIES
   PROVIDE THE PROGRAM "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESSED
   OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF
   MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  THE ENTIRE RISK AS
   TO THE QUALITY AND PERFORMANCE OF THE PROGRAM IS WITH YOU.  SHOULD THE
   PROGRAM PROVE DEFECTIVE, YOU ASSUME THE COST OF ALL NECESSARY SERVICING,
   REPAIR OR CORRECTION.

     12. IN NO EVENT UNLESS REQUIRED BY APPLICABLE LAW OR AGREED TO IN WRITING
   WILL ANY COPYRIGHT HOLDER, OR ANY OTHER PARTY WHO MAY MODIFY AND/OR
   REDISTRIBUTE THE PROGRAM AS PERMITTED ABOVE, BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR DAMAGES,
   INCLUDING ANY GENERAL, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES ARISING
   OUT OF THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE THE PROGRAM (INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED
   TO LOSS OF DATA OR DATA BEING RENDERED INACCURATE OR LOSSES SUSTAINED BY
   YOU OR THIRD PARTIES OR A FAILURE OF THE PROGRAM TO OPERATE WITH ANY OTHER
   PROGRAMS), EVEN IF SUCH HOLDER OR OTHER PARTY HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE
   POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.


   In short: if it breaks, you can keep the pieces.  This is Free Software,
   use it as you see fit, but don't come running or screaming if it doesn't
   work as intended. 


5. Copyright

   Copyright (C) 1999 - 2007  Dirk Eddelbuettel <edd@debian.org>

   This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
   it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
   the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
   (at your option) any later version.

   This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
   but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
   MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
   GNU General Public License for more details.

   You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
   along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
   Foundation, Inc., 675 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.