--- /dev/null Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 1970 +0000
+++ b/README Sat Jul 25 23:04:16 2009 +0100
@@ -0,0 +1,80 @@
+
+# Squish - One language to write them all, one squisher to squish them
+
+Squish is a simple script to build a single file out of multiple scripts, modules, and other files.
+
+For example if you have a script called A, and it requires modules X, Y and Z, all of them could be squished
+into a single file, B.
+
+When run, Squish reads a file called 'squishy' in the current (or specified) directory, which contains
+instructions on how to squish a project.
+
+For an example you can see Squish's own squishy file, included in this package. For reference, see below.
+
+## Squishing
+
+Running squish will search for a 'squishy' file in the current directory. Alternatively you can pass to squish
+a directory to look in.
+
+Command-line options vary depending on what features squish has been built with. Below are the standard ones.
+
+### Minify
+'Minification' is the act of condensing source code by stripping out spaces, line breaks, comments and anything
+that isn't required to be there. Although the source code is re-organised and changed, the program is still the
+same and runs without any changes.
+
+#### --no-minify
+Disable minification of the output file after squishing. Default is to minify.
+
+#### --minify-level=level
+The level may be one of: none, basic, default, full
+
+They vary in effectiveness, and the time taken to process large files. Experiment!
+
+### Uglify
+'Uglification' is the name Squish gives to a certain basic form of compression. With large files it can reduce the
+size by some kilobytes, even after full minification. It works by replacing Lua keywords with a single byte and
+inserting code at the start of the script to expand the keywords when it is run.
+
+#### --uglify
+Enable the uglification filter. Default is to not uglify.
+
+### Compile
+Squish can compile the resulting file to Lua bytecode. This is experimental at this stage (you may get better results
+with luac right now), however it's a work in progress. Compiling to bytecode can actually increase the size of
+minified output, but it can speed up loading (not that you would notice it anyway, since the Lua compiler is so fast).
+
+#### --compile
+Enables compilation of the output file.
+
+## Squishy reference
+
+A squishy file is actually a Lua script which calls some Squish functions. These functions are listed here.
+
+### Module "name" "path"
+Adds the specified module to the list of those to be squished into the output file. The optional path specifies
+where to find the file (relative to the squishy file), otherwise Squish will attempt to find the module itself.
+
+### Main "script.lua"
+Adds a script into the squished output. Scripts are executed in the order specified in the squishy file, but only
+after all modules have been loaded.
+
+### Output "filename.lua"
+Names the output file. If none is specified, the default is 'squished.out.lua'.
+
+### Option "name" "value"
+Sets the specified option, to 'true', or to the optional given value. This allows a squishy file to set default
+command-line options.
+
+### GetOption "name"
+Returns the current value of the given option.
+
+### Resource "name" "path"
+Adds a 'resource' to the squished file. A resource may be any file, text, binary, large or small. Scripts can
+retrieve the resource at runtime by calling require_resource("name"). If no path is given then the name is used
+as the path.
+
+### AutoFetchURL "url"
+**Experimental** feature which is subject to change. When specified, all the following Module statements will be
+fetched via HTTP if not found on the filesystem. A ? (question mark) in the URL is replaced by the relative path
+of the module file that was given in the Module statement.