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+
+			  Welcome to Ledger
+
+		 the command-line accounting program
+
+Introduction
+============
+
+Ledger is an accounting program which is invoked from the command-line using a
+textual ledger file.  To start using Ledger, you will need to create such a
+file containing your financial postings.  A sample has been provided in the
+file "sample.dat".  See the documentation (ledger.pdf, or ledger.info) for
+full documentation on creating a ledger file and using Ledger to generate
+reports.
+
+Once you have such a file -- you might call it "ledger.dat" -- you can start
+looking at balances and account registers using commands like the following:
+
+  ledger -f ledger.dat balance assets:checking
+  ledger -f ledger.dat register expenses:food
+
+This assumes, of course, that like the sample file you use account names such
+as "Assets:Checking" and "Expenses:Food".  If you use other account names, you
+will need to vary the reporting commands you use accordingly.
+
+
+Building
+========
+
+To build Ledger, you will need a fairly modern C++ compiler (gcc 2.95 will not
+work), and at least these two libraries installed:
+
+    gmp        GNU multi-precision library
+    pcre       Perl regular expression library
+
+(On some GNU/Linux systems, the packages you need to install are called
+"gmp-dev" and "pcre-dev").
+
+Once you have determined where the headers and libraries for the above
+packages are installed, run the script "configure", passing those paths.  If
+you installed everything under /usr/local, you can probably just type
+"./configure".  Otherwise, do this:
+
+    ./configure CPPFLAGS=-I<INCLUDE-PATH>  LDFLAGS=-L<LIBRARY-PATH>
+
+If you need to specify multiple include or library paths, then do this:
+
+    ./configure CPPFLAGS="-I<PATH1> -I<PATH2>"  LDFLAGS="-L<PATH1> -L<PATH2>"
+
+Once configure is done running, just type:
+
+    make install
+
+
+Mailing List and IRC
+====================
+
+If you need help on how to use Ledger, or run into problems, you can join the
+Ledger mailing list at the following Web address:
+
+    http://groups.google.com/group/ledger-cli
+
+You can also find help at the #ledger channel on the IRC server
+irc.freenode.net.