# __COPYRIGHT__ # __FILE__ __REVISION__ __DATE__ __DEVELOPER__ SCons - a software construction tool Version __VERSION__ 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-__VERSION__-1.noarch.rpm Debian GNU/Linux scons___VERSION__-1_all.deb (or use apt-get) Windows scons-__VERSION__.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-__VERSION__ or C:\Python*\scons-__VERSION__). 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 ============= PLEASE NOTE: We are in the process of planning to move our mailing list administration on 14 March 2004. Details are available at our mailing lists page: http://www.scons.org/lists.html An active mailing list for users of SCons is available. You may send questions or comments to the list at: users@scons.tigris.org (after 14 March 2004) scons-users@lists.sourceforge.net (prior to 14 March 2004) After 14 March 2004, please check our mailing lists web page in case the actual date of the move has changed. You may subscribe to the (new) mailing list by sending email to: users-subscribe@scons.tigris.org To subscribe to the old (sourceforge.net) mailing list prior to the move, please consult the directions at our mailing lists page (address above). 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