$Id: README,v 1.10 1997/01/27 04:07:48 wuebben Exp $

                Bear Access Launch Pad for Unix/X11 
      Requires the Qt 1.1  widget libraries, available at no cost at 
                        http://www.troll.no
       
               Copyright (C) 1997 Bernd Johannes Wuebben   
                       wuebben@math.cornell.edu
               
	      http://math.cornell.edu/~wuebben/bear.html

COPYRIGHT NOTICE:

    This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
    it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
    the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
    (at your option) any later version PROVIDED THAT 

    o THIS README ACCOMPANIES YOUR DISTRIBUTION
    o I AM  MENTIONED AS THE ORIGINAL DEVELOPER IN ANY ACCOMPANYING 
      DOCUMENTATION TOGETHER WITH MY EMAIL ADDRESS
    o MY NAME AND EMAIL ADDRESS ARE LEFT IN THE ABOUT DIALOG

    This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
    but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
    MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
    GNU General Public License for more details.


INSTALLATION:

Simply edit the Makefile and make the changes necessary. Normally, that is if
you have Qt installed properly, no or only minor changes should be necessary.
Make sure you have the QTDIR environment variable set.
By default the binary is going to end up in /usr/local/bin and the data
files in /usr/local/lib. Modify the Makefile if this doesn't suit your taste.

o type "make" to build bearaccess
o edit bearservices to launch the right applications
o type "make install" to install bearaccess


STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW:

Let the term "services file" denote a file that contains definitions
for launch pad buttons. 

If the environment variable BEAR_DATA_DIR is set to a directory, bearaccess
will look for its global data in this directory rather than the default data
directory /usr/local/lib (or more precisely the directory you specified in 
the Makefile as DATADIR at compile time). This should be useful for people 
who wish to install bearacces in their home directories, without recompilation
or root access.

In the following let $(BEAR_DATA_DIR) denote DATADIR (which by default is
/usr/local/lib) or the value of the environment variable BEAR_DATA_DIR if
existent. Bearaccess "knows" about three services files:

1) $(BEAR_DATA_DIR)/bearservices
   comes with this distribution and the idea is that this is the services
   file that contains the definitions for all buttons that should appear by
   default independent of the installation
   
2) $(BEAR_DATA_DIR)/bearservices.local
   comes with this distribution but is empty. You can add site/installation
   specific buttons here
   
3) ~/.bearservices 
   will be created in the users home directory at startup time. If the user
   chooses to add buttons or button lists, their definitions will be stored
   here.
   
For the format of these services files see $(BEAR_DATA_DIR)/bearservices.

Config files:

1) $(BEAR_DATA_DIR)/bearconfig
   contains installation-wide default font and colors
   The distribution doesn't come with this file. If you would like to 
   have a site specific configuration you can simply copy your 
   ~/.bearconfig (see below) to $(BEAR_DATA_DIR)/bearconfig
    
2) ~/.bearconfig
   will be created at startup if not existent. It will allow for user
   defined colors and fonts.
   

TIPS and TRICKS:

o the application supports the usual X11 command line options

o you can open a services file by specifying it at the command line:
  bearaccess myfile
  
o you can change the startup size by resizing the application using you 
  windowmanager and then choosing Save Options from the Options Menu

o An advanced user can override entries in the default services files.
  Example:

  /usr/local/lib/bearservices contains:
  [main]
  Dept of DeepScience Homepage,0,0,0,netscape http://www.deepscience.edu
  
  But the user would rather like to use the new wiz-bang browser knetscape.
  He/she can edit his/her ~/.bearservices and add:
  [main]
  Dept of DeepScience Homepage,0,0,0,knetscape http://www.deepscience.edu

  Since this entry is defined on the same page, namely [main] and has the same
  title it will replace the previous Button definition.



Let me know if you have any trouble, comments or suggestions.
If you'd like to help, I could really use a hand with the default services
files. Let me know if buttons should be added  or if they should be modified 
in any way.

have fun,
Bernd Wuebben
wuebben@math.cornell.edu


APPENDIX

o DEFAULTS:

The following are the files used by bearaccess. You can change their location
at compile time by editing the Makefile.

The global services file:  		$(BEAR_DATA_DIR)/bearservices
The installation wide services file  	$(BEAR_DATA_DIR)/bearservices.local
The user specific services file 	~/.bearservices

The global configuration file 		$(BEAR_DATA_DIR)/bearconfig
The user specific config file 		~/.bearconfig

(The config files contain color and font definitons etc.)