# Copyright (c) 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 The SCons Foundation
# /home/scons/scons/branch.0/branch.96/baseline/src/README.txt 0.96.1.D001 2004/08/23 09:55:29 knight


                 SCons - a software construction tool

                         Version 0.96.1


This is a beta release of SCons, a tool for building software (and other
files).  SCons is implemented in Python, and its "configuration files"
are actually Python scripts, allowing you to use the full power of a
real scripting language to solve build problems.  You do not, however,
need to know Python to use SCons effectively.

See the RELEASE.txt file for notes about this specific release,
including known problems.  See the CHANGES.txt file for a list of
changes since the previous release.


LATEST VERSION
==============

Before going further, you can check that this package you have is
the latest version by checking the SCons download page at:

        http://www.scons.org/download.html


EXECUTION REQUIREMENTS
======================

Running SCons requires Python version 1.5.2 or later.  There should be
no other dependencies or requirements to run SCons.  (There is, however,
an additional requirement to *install* SCons from this particular
package; see the next section.)

By default, SCons knows how to search for available programming tools
on various systems--see the SCons man page for details.  You may,
of course, override the default SCons choices made by appropriate
configuration of Environment construction variables.


INSTALLATION REQUIREMENTS
=========================

Installing SCons from this package requires the Python distutils
package.  The distutils package was not shipped as a standard part of
Python until Python version 1.6, so if your system is running Python
1.5.2, you may not have distutils installed.  If you are running
Python version 1.6 or later, you should be fine.

NOTE TO RED HAT USERS:  Red Hat shipped Python 1.5.2 as the default all
the way up to Red Hat Linux 7.3, so you probably do *not* have distutils
installed, unless you have already done so manually or are running Red
Hat 8.0 or later.

In this case, your options are:

    --  (Recommended.)  Install from a pre-packaged SCons package that
        does not require distutils:

            Red Hat Linux       scons-0.96.1-1.noarch.rpm

            Debian GNU/Linux    scons_0.96.1-1_all.deb
                                (or use apt-get)

            Windows             scons-0.96.1.win32.exe

    --  (Optional.)  Download the latest distutils package from the
        following URL:

            http://www.python.org/sigs/distutils-sig/download.html

        Install the distutils according to the instructions on the page.
        You can then proceed to the next section to install SCons from
        this package.


INSTALLATION
============

Assuming your system satisfies the installation requirements in the
previous section, install SCons from this package simply by running the
provided Python-standard setup script as follows:

        # python setup.py install

If this is the first time you are installing SCons on your system,
the above command will install the scons script in the default system
script directory (/usr/bin or C:\Python*\Scripts, for example) and the
build engine in an appropriate stand-alone SCons library directory
(/usr/lib/scons or C:\Python*\scons, for example).

Note that, by default, SCons does not install its library in the
standard Python library directories.  If you want to be able to use the
SCons library modules (the build engine) in other Python scripts, you
can run the setup script as follows:

        # python setup.py install --standard-lib

This will install the build engine in the standard Python
library directory (/usr/lib/python*/site-packages or
C:\Python*\Lib\site-packages).

Alternatively, you may want to install multiple versions of SCons
side-by-side, which you can do as follows:

        # python setup.py install --version-lib

This will install the build engine in a version-specific library
directory (/usr/lib/scons-0.96.1 or C:\Python*\scons-0.96.1).

If this is not the first time you are installing SCons on your system,
the setup script will, by default, search for where you have previously
installed the SCons library, and install this version's library the
same way--that is, if you previously installed the SCons library in
the standard Python library, the setup script will install this one
in the same location.  You may, of course, specify one of the --*-lib
options described above to select a specific library location, or use
the following option to explicitly select installation into the default
standalone library directory (/usr/lib/scons or C:\Python*\scons):

        # python setup.py install --standalone-lib

Note that, to install SCons in any of the above system directories,
you should have system installation privileges (that is, "root" or
"Administrator") when running the setup.py script.  If you don't have
system installation privileges, you can use the --prefix option to
specify an alternate installation location, such as your home directory:

        $ python setup.py install --prefix=$HOME

This will install SCons in the appropriate locations relative to
$HOME--that is, the scons script itself $HOME/bin and the associated
library in $HOME/lib/scons, for example.


DOCUMENTATION
=============

See the RELEASE.txt file for notes about this specific release,
including known problems.  See the CHANGES.txt file for a list of
changes since the previous release.

The scons.1 man page is included in this package, and contains a section
of small examples for getting started using SCons.

Additional documentation for SCons is available at:

        http://www.scons.org/doc.html


LICENSING
=========

SCons is distributed under the MIT license, a full copy of which is
available in the LICENSE.txt file. The MIT license is an approved Open
Source license, which means:

        This software is OSI Certified Open Source Software.  OSI
        Certified is a certification mark of the Open Source Initiative.

More information about OSI certifications and Open Source software is
available at:

        http://www.opensource.org/


REPORTING BUGS
==============

Please report bugs by following the "Tracker - Bugs" link on the SCons
project page and filling out the form:

        http://sourceforge.net/projects/scons/

You can also send mail to the SCons developers mailing list:

        scons-devel@lists.sourceforge.net

But please make sure that you also submit a bug report to the project
page bug tracker, because bug reports in email can sometimes get lost
in the general flood of messages.


MAILING LISTS
=============

An active mailing list for users of SCons is available.  You may send
questions or comments to the list at:

        users@scons.tigris.org

You may subscribe to the mailing list by sending email to:

        users-subscribe@scons.tigris.org

There is also a low-volume mailing list available for announcements
about SCons.  Subscribe by sending email to:

        announce-subscribe@scons.tigris.org

There are other mailing lists available for SCons developers, for
notification of SCons code changes, and for notification of updated
bug reports and project documents.  Please see our mailing lists page
for details.


DONATIONS
=========

If you find SCons helpful, please consider making a donation (of cash,
software, or hardware) to support continued work on the project.
Information is available at:

        http://www.scons.org/donate.html


FOR MORE INFORMATION
====================

Check the SCons web site at:

        http://www.scons.org/


AUTHOR INFO
===========

Steven Knight
knight at baldmt dot com
http://www.baldmt.com/~knight/

With plenty of help from the SCons Development team:
        Chad Austin
        Charles Crain
        Steve Leblanc
        Gary Oberbrunner
        Anthony Roach
        Greg Spencer
        Christoph Wiedemann

