Pyrite - Synchronization in Python for Palm Computing(R)
         platform connected organizers


Copyright 1998-1999 Rob Tillotson <robt@debian.org>
Portions Copyright 1998 Kenneth Albanowski <kjahds@kjahds.com>

Pyrite is Open Source software, under the GNU Library General Public
License, version 2 (only).  Please read the file "doc/COPYING" for
details.

Please visit <http://purl.oclc.org/net/n9mtb/cq/> for updates, as
well as other software designed to work with Pyrite.

A listing of notable changes in each release can be found in doc/NEWS.

Installation instructions are in doc/INSTALL.

System requirements are listed at the bottom of this file.

Important information about this release can be found in doc/README.0.7.0.
Please DO NOT install this release over a previous version of Pyrite
until you read that information!

[Note: Pyrite used to be called PalmPython; it was renamed in
accordance with 3com's trademark guidelines, and because I never
really liked "PalmPython" anyway.]

Pyrite is an interface library which allows programs in the Python
language to access Palm Computing platform devices and their data.  It
is not simply a wrapper around the synchronization protocols and
.pdb/.prc file format; it is an object-oriented architecture for
dealing with data from the handheld in a transparent, Python-friendly
manner.  Pyrite is designed to be extensible; new conduits, data
formats, and storage methods can be added easily by subclassing.

The Pyrite distribution includes a number of standard modules:

  - application data support: Address, Memo, To Do, Datebook, Doc
    (e-text)

  - conduits: backup, install, time sync

  - data storage: local .prc/.pdb files, docked handheld

Although it is primarily meant as a programmer's library, Pyrite
also includes a (minimal) set of command-line utilities and Tk-based
GUI modules.




System Requirements
-------------------

Pyrite requires Python 1.5 or newer, and the pilot-link library
0.8.11 or newer.  (Only the pilot-link library is needed; the rest is
useful, but not required.)

Building Pyrite from source requires a C compiler, and the
development headers for both Python and pilot-link.

The PostScript and HTML documentation were built with jade, sp,
jadetex, the DocBook DTD, and the modular DocBook stylesheets.
(But since the source is SGML, you can theoretically use many other
tools to deal with it too.)


Pyrite is primarily intended for use on Unix systems; it is
developed on a Debian GNU/Linux i686 system, but ought to work on any
system which meets the above software requirements.  If you use it
(successfully or not) on another platform, please send a compatibility
report along with whatever patches you made (if any) to get it to
work.