DISCLAIMER
----------

   THE AUTHORS OF THIS LIBRARY ACCEPT ABSOLUTELY NO LIABILITY FOR
    ANY HARM OR LOSS RESULTING FROM ITS USE.  IT IS _EXTREMELY_ UNWISE
    TO RELY ON SOFTWARE ALONE FOR SAFETY.  Any machinery capable of
    harming persons must have provisions for completely removing power
    from all motors, etc, before persons enter any danger area.  All
    machinery must be designed to comply with local and national safety
    codes, and the authors of this software can not, and do not, take
    any responsibility for such compliance.


Mission Statement
-----------------

LinuxCNC is an offshoot of the original NIST Enhanced Machine
Controller.  The new version is (primarily) a GPL'd project.
The major goals are:

1)  Make the project more friendly to new developers.  This
    means a simpler build process, as well as other changes
    listed below. (DONE)

2)  Reduce complexity by eliminating support for platforms
    other than Linux on x86, with either RTAI or RTLinux for
    realtime. (DONE)

3)  Incorporate a Hardware Abstraction Layer that makes the
    realtime code more modular and allows pins and I/O devices
    to be reconfigured easily. (DONE)

4)  Add some of the features that were discussed at the 2003
    NAMES show on EMC Monday - these include rigid tapping
    and single point threading, improved contouring, a built-
    in PLC using ClassicLadder, and others. (mostly DONE, yet
    new features will constantly be added)


The Build Process
-----------------

Refer to the file 'docs/INSTALL' for information about building and 
running the software.
    

Directory Layout
----------------

The directory tree for LinuxCNC is documented in 'directory.map' in the
top level directory.


    COPYING - this software is released under the GPL, 
              with some parts under the LGPL

Please also see the files in docs/

    README  - general information
    INSTALL - information about compiling and installing the software
    AUTHORS - information about authors
    NEWS    - latest news


Quickstart:
-----------

From the top level directory, switch to the source directory:

  cd src

In the source directory, build LinuxCNC:

  ./configure
  [or, if you do not have a realtime kernel:]
  ./configure --enable-simulator

  make clean
  make
  sudo make setuid

to run the software go back to the top level directory, and issue:

  . scripts/rip-environment
  linuxcnc