==================
Open Build Service
==================

The Open Build Service (OBS) is an open and complete distribution
development platform designed to encourage developers to compile packages for
multiple Linux distributions including openSUSE, Red Hat, Mandriva, Ubuntu,
Fedora and Debian. It typically simplifies the packaging process, so developers
can more easily package a single program for many distributions, and many
openSUSE releases, making more packages available to users regardless of what
distribution they use. 

Further documentation for the Open Build Service can be found at the openSUSE wiki
on the Open Build Service portal page:

  http://en.opensuse.org/Portal:Build_Service

Some running Open Build Service instances are listed here:

  http://www.open-build-service.org/instances.html


Organization
============

The Open Build Service consists of several parts, namely the backend, the
api and the webui. The backend implements all the core functionality (i.e. the
business logic), whereas the webui provides a neat browser interface. The api
forms the glue between those components and also serves as the integration
point to other external tools (hence it's name). Therefore the source code is
organized like this:

============  ==================================================
Directory     Description
============  ==================================================
dist          Files relevant for (distro) packaging
docs          Documentation, examples and the Build Service book
src/api       Api code (Ruby / Ruby on Rails)
src/backend   Backend code (Perl)
src/webui     Webui code (Ruby / Ruby on Rails)
shared        Stuff shared across the different parts
============  ==================================================

Note that the three parts each also have their own documentation found in their
respective subdirectories.


Installation, deployment and development
========================================

These topics are covered in the file INSTALL and on the openSUSE wiki (see
above).


Licensing
=========

The Open Build Service is Free Software and is released under the terms of
the GPL, except where noted. Additionally, 3rd-party content (like, but not
exclusively, the webui icon theme) may be released under a different license.
Please check the respective files for details.


Contact
=======

The Build Service project is hosted on Github and can be found here:

    http://github.com/opensuse/open-build-service

You can discuss with the Build Service Team via IRC (FreeNode) on this channel:

    #opensuse-buildservice

Or you can use the official mailing list:

    [email protected]


    Your Open Build Service Team