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SCons - a software construction tool

This is the scons-README file for a version of SCons packaged for local execution--that is, execution out of a specific local directory, without having to install SCons as a system-wide utility.

You are likely reading this file in one of the following two situations:

You have unpacked an scons-local-{version} package and are examining the contents.
In this case, you are presumably interested in using this package to include a local copy of SCons with some other software that you package, so that you can use SCons to build your software without forcing all of your users to have it fully installed. Instructions for this can be found below.
If you are not looking to use SCons in this way, then please use either the scons-{version} package to install SCons on your system, or the scons-src-{version} package if you want the full source to SCons, including its packaging code and underlying tests and testing infrastructure.
This file was included in some other software package so that the package could be built using SCons.
In this case, follow the instructions provided with the rest of the software package for how to use SCons to build and/or install the software. The file containing build and installation instructions will typically be named README or INSTALL.

LATEST VERSION

Before going further, you can check for the latest version of the scons-local package, or any SCons package, at the SCons download page:

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.

The default SCons configuration assumes use of the Microsoft Visual C++ compiler suite on WIN32 systems, and assumes a C compiler named 'cc', a C++ compiler named 'c++', and a Fortran compiler named 'g77' (such as found in the GNU C compiler suite) on any other type of system. You may, of course, override these default values by appropriate configuration of Environment construction variables.

INSTALLATION

Installation of this package should be as simple as unpacking the archive (either .tar.gz or .zip) in any directory (top-level or a subdirectory) within the software package with which you want to ship SCons.

Once you have installed this package, you should write an SConstruct file at the top level of your source tree to build your software as you see fit.

Then modify the build/install instructions for your package to instruct your users to execute SCons as follows (if you installed this package in your top-level directory):

$ python scons.py

Or (if, for example, you installed this package in a subdirectory named "scons"):

$ python scons/scons.py

That should be all you have to do. (If it isn't that simple, please let us know!)

CONTENTS OF THIS PACKAGE

This scons-local package consists of the following:

scons-LICENSE

        A copy of the copyright and terms under which SCons is
        distributed (the Open Source Initiative-approved MIT license).

        A disclaimer has been added to the beginning to make clear that
        this license applies only to SCons, and not to any separate
        software you've written with which you're planning to package
        SCons.

scons-README

What you're looking at right now.

scons-local-{version}/

        The SCons build engine.  This is structured as a Python
        library.

scons.py

        The SCons script itself.  The script sets up the Python
        sys.path variable to use the build engine found in the
        scons-local-{version}/ directory in preference to any other
        SCons build engine installed on your system.

DOCUMENTATION

Because this package is intended to be included with other software by experienced users, we have not included any SCons documentation in this package (other than this scons-README file you're reading right now).

If, however, you need documentation about SCons, then consult any of the following from the corresponding scons-{version} or scons-src-{version} package:

        The RELEASE.txt file (src/RELEASE.txt file in the
        scons-src-{version} package), which contains notes about this
        specific release, including known problems.

        The CHANGES.txt file (src/CHANGES.txt file in the
        scons-src-{version} package), which contains a list of changes
        since the previous release.

        The scons.1 man page (doc/man/scons.1 in the scons-src-{version}
        package), which 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 scons-LICENSE file in this package. 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

You can report bugs either by following the "Tracker - Bugs" link on the SCons project page:

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

or by sending mail to the SCons developers mailing list:

scons-devel@lists.sourceforge.net

MAILING LISTS

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

scons-users@lists.sourceforge.net

You may subscribe to the scons-users mailing list at:

http://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/scons-users

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
        Anthony Roach
        Terrel Shumway