README


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				   libraw1394
				   ==========

1. About libraw1394

	libraw1394 is the only supported interface to the kernel side raw1394 of
the Linux IEEE-1394 subsystem, which provides direct access to the connected
1394 buses to user space.  Through libraw1394/raw1394, applications can directly
send to and receive from other nodes without requiring a kernel driver for the
protocol in question.

	The reason for making a library the interface to the kernel is to avoid
a program dependancy on the kernel version, which would hinder development and
optimization of raw1394.  If development changed the protocol and made it
incompatible with previous versions only the libraw1394 has to be upgraded to
match the kernel version (instead of all applications).


2. Copyleft

	libraw1394 itself is licensed under the Lesser General Public License
(short LGPL, see file COPYING.LIB in the source distribution).  Other files in
the source archives not belonging to but being part of the build procedure of
libraw1394 are under their own licenses, as stated at the top of the individual
files.


3. API documentation

	There is currently no external document describing the library functions,
but you can find documentation for all functions in the header file raw1394.h.


4. Multithreading

	This library should be multithreadable with the restriction that one
raw1394handle_t may be used only within a single thread.  Multiple threads
operating on the same handle would royally mess up the kernel-user protocol.
Simply use separate handles for each thread in which you need to use libraw1394.


5. Maintainer

	Maintainer of libraw1394 is currently Andreas Bombe.  Send suggestions,
bug reports and fixes to andreas.bombe@munich.netsurf.de.  See the file AUTHORS
for a complete list of contributors to libraw1394.


1999-11-23  Andreas Bombe