A READMEfile contains information about other files in a directory or archive of computer software. A form of documentation, it is usually a simple plain text file called READ.ME, README.TXT, README.md, README.1ST or simply README. The file's name is generally written in uppercase letters. On Unix-like systems in particular this makes it easily noticedboth because lowercase filenames are more usual, and because traditionally the ls command sorts and displays files in ASCII-code order, so that uppercase filenames appear first.
Contents
The contents typically include one or more of the following:
It is unclear when the convention began, but there are examples dating back to the mid 1970s. In particular, there is a long history of free software and open-source software including a README file; in fact it is a requirement in the GNU Coding Standards. Since the advent of the web as a de facto standard platform for software distribution, many software packages have moved some of the above ancillary files and pieces of information to a website or wiki, sometimes including the README itself, or sometimes leavingbehind only a brief README file without all of the information required by a new user of the software. In more recent times, the popular GitHubproprietaryGit repository strongly encourages a README file - if one is included in the main directory, it is automatically presented on the main web page. While traditional plain text is supported, various different file extensions and formats are also supported, and conversion to HTML takes account of the file extension of the filein particular a "README.md" file would be treated as a GitHub Flavored Markdown file.
The expression "readme file" is also sometimes used generically, for files with a similar purpose. For example, the source code distributions of many free software packages, especially those following the Gnits Standards or those produced with GNU Autotools, include a standard set of readme files: Other files commonly distributed with software include a FAQ and a TODO file listing possible future changes.
