Release Readme Best Practice

This page's goal is to develop a common template for REAMDE or README.[txt|md] files to be included in software releases for the 52°North downloads section. For an overview of all best practices at 52°North see BestPractices.

Releases without README (not a complete list!):

• WPS (only war file)
• WPS OL client
• WPS uDig client (jar only)
• ...

File Names (Discussion)

• IMHO the release notes / read-me file should be ony file only and called README (no extension). If the information is split up, e.g. into INSTALL and CHANGES files, they must be referenced in the README. -- DanielNuest - 2012-05-25

Draft Daniel

(Based on own file, SOS, SIR and ILWIS.)

README for 52&#176;North <service/software name> version <semver version string>

<a short sentence about the product>

http://52north.org/<link to software or community page>


Contents
========

   * <a list of files / folders in this package, and short description if applicable>
   * 52N_license.txt : The license of <this software>.
   * InstallationGuide.pdf : A printer-friendly version of the online installation guide available at http://...
   * /src : The source files of <software name>.
   * /bin : Executable binaries of <software name>.
   * <...>


Changes
=======

<List the changes in this release.>

<Alternatively an external reference: An overview of the changes in this release can be found in the CHANGES file.>

New Features
------------

   * ...

Code Changes
------------

   * ...

Fixed Bugs
----------

   * ... <if applicable add id of the bug in Bugzilla>


Installation
============

Installation instructions ...


Download, Sources, Support and Contact
=============================

The latest release of ... can be downloaded from this website:

    http://...


The source code is available at GitHub:

    https://github.com/52North/...


You can get support in the community mailing list and forums:

    http://52north.org/resources/mailing-list-and-forums/

If you encounter any issues with the software or if you would like to see
certain functionality added, let us know at:

    <contact email>

The <commmunity name here!> Community
52&#176;North Inititative for Geospatial Open Source Software GmbH, Germany