General Information
===================

This is AceConn version 1.2.0. AceConn is a C library for accessing
the socket protocol version of the AceDB servers.

The official AceDB ftp site is:
  ftp://ftp.sanger.ac.uk/pub/acedb

The official web site is:
  http://www.acedb.org/



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

See the file 'INSTALL' for the generic install instructions.


Bootstrapping the Build

If you are installing AceConn from a development copy of the source tree
rather than a dist tar file then run the autogen.sh script to create the
configure script and then follow the instructions in INSTALL.

> autogen.sh

> ./configure

> make

and optionally

> made dist

or perhaps

> sudo make install


You can tailor the autogen.sh script using environment variables:

> export LIBTOOLIZE=glibtoolize

> export AC_LOCAL_INC=" -I /opt/local/share/aclocal "


BUT the hope is that the autogen.sh script will minimise the need to set extra
variables.


You can install in non-standard places by:

> ./configure --prefix=/opt/local




Notes about AceConn 1.2.0
=========================

* This most recent version of AceConn now builds/installs using the
  gnu autoconf system.


Future work
===========

client is non-blocking at the moment but could be made blocking and
would be much simpler.

currently does raw socket calls but we could use the giochannel stuff.

need to expose "encoring" interface to application so that it can
choose whether to do it or have all the reply batched up.


How to report bugs
==================

Bugs should be reported to the acedb bug tracking system. 
Send an email to acedb-bug@sanger.ac.uk.

In the bug report please include:

* Information about your system. For instance:

   - What operating system and version
   - For Linux, what version of the C library

  And anything else you think is relevant.

* How to reproduce the bug. 

  If you can reproduce it with one of the test programs that are built 
  in the tests/ subdirectory, that will be most convenient.  Otherwise, 
  please include a short test program that exhibits the behavior. 
  As a last resort, you can also provide a pointer to a larger piece 
  of software that can be downloaded.

* If the bug was a crash, the exact text that was printed out
  when the crash occured.

* Further information such as stack traces may be useful, but
  is not necessary.

Patches
=======

Patches should be submitted to acedb@sanger.ac.uk. If the
patch fixes an existing bug, add the patch as an attachment
to that bug report.

Otherwise, enter a new bug report that describes the patch,
and attach the patch to that bug report.

Bug reports containing patches should include the PATCH keyword
in their keyword fields. If the patch adds to or changes the GLib 
programming interface, the API keyword should also be included.

Patches should be in unified diff form. (The -u option to GNU
diff.)