[ANN] beta test - link checker

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-                Beta Test for the W3C Link Checker                 -
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The W3C link checker is a popular free service to check the status of  
links (authentication, broken links) on a web site. Originally bundled  
with the W3C Markup validator, we have decided to make it easier for  
people to install it on their own site: the tool will soon be released  
as a standalone, free, open source product.

We would like to start this release cycle with a Beta Test period. You  
are all welcome to check and review our test instance of the link  
checker at the following address:
	http://validator.w3.org:8001/checklink

This beta test period should last (at least) two weeks. Depending on  
the feedback, the tool will then be released and the main link checker  
service at W3C will be updated, or we will start a second round of beta  
test.


** FEEDBACK **

You can help us improve the link checker (a.k.a checklink) by sending  
thoughts and bug reports related to this beta test to the *public*  
mailing list www-validator:
	http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/www-validator/

Since this list is used for feedback on several different tools, we  
suggest that you tag your messages regarding checklink in the subject  
of your e-mail, e.g:
	Subject: [checklink] bug report - ....

Developers are also invited to get the source code, and send us patches:
	http://dev.w3.org/cvsweb/validator/httpd/cgi-bin/checklink.pl? 
only_with_tag=validator-0_6_0-branch


** CHANGES **

Here is a short list of changes between the previous stable version  
(bundled with the Markup Validator) and this beta test version:
- Improved redirect loop detection
- Recursion scope checking fixes
- Configuration option to disable checking documents on non-public IP  
addresses
   -> new dependency on the Net::IP CPAN module
- Markup improvements
- Documentation improvements (command line options, embedded man page)
- Various other small bug fixes

(full changelog available at
http://dev.w3.org/cvsweb/validator/httpd/cgi-bin/checklink.pl? 
only_with_tag=validator-0_6_0-branch, see changes since revision  
3.6.2.3)

-===================================================================-


For Ville Skyttä, lead developer for the Link Checker
and the QA tools development Team,
-- 
olivier Thereaux - W3C / QA / Dev
http://www.w3.org/People/olivier - http://www.w3.org/QA/