README file

n. Hacker's-eye introduction traditionally included in the top-level
directory of a Unix source distribution, containing a pointer to more
detailed documentation, credits, miscellaneous revision history, notes, etc.
In the Mac and PC worlds, software is not usually distributed in source
form, and the README is more likely to contain user-oriented material like
last-minute documentation changes, error workarounds, and restrictions. When
asked, hackers invariably relate the README convention to the famous scene
in Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures In Wonderland in which Alice confronts
magic munchies labeled Eat Me and Drink Me. The file may be named README, or
READ.ME, or rarely ReadMe or readme.txt or some other variant. The
all-upper-case spellings, however, are universal among Unix programmers. By
ancient tradition, real source files have all-lowercase names and
all-uppercase is reserved for metadata, comments, and grafitti. This is
functional; because 'A' sorts before 'a' in ASCII, the README will appear in
directory listings before any source file.

