			 Singular version 1.0
		     University of Kaiserslautern
     Department of Mathematics        Centre for Computer Algebra
	  Authors: G.-M. Greuel, G. Pfister, H. Schoenemann
		  (C) 1986-1997 All Rights Reserved

		   README FILE FOR SINGULAR KERNEL
		   ===============================

This directory contains the source files for the Singular kernel and
the following subdirectories:
 
  'doc'	  -- contains sources for Singular documentation files 
  'check' -- contains a small Singular self-test
  'LIB'   -- contains Singular libraries written in Singular's
             programming language

See the following files in this directory
  'INSTALL' -- for information on how to install Singular
  'COPYING' -- for copying and license information

See below for an overview of Singular, and for distribution and
support information.

If you receive this file as part of a complete Singular distribution,
see also the README.src, COPYING.src, and INSTALL files contained in the top
directory of the full Singular distribution.


Overview of Singular
====================
Singular is a special-purpose computer algebra system for commutative
algebra and algebraic geometry. The main features of Singular are:

 * Computations in very general rings (polynomial rings, localizations
   of rings at a prime ideal, tensor products of rings) over many
   ground fields (rational numbers, mod p numbers, Galois fields,
   transcendental/algebraic extensions) and monomial orderings (all
   standard monomial orderings, including matrix orderings)

 * Very fast standard (resp. Groebner) bases computations

 * Polynomial factorization, resultant, and gcd computations

 * Large variety of implemented related algorithm: FGLM,
   Hilbert-driven, Factorizing Buchberger; Minimal resolutions,
   Primary decomposition; Usual ideal theoretic operations; standard
   combinatorial algorithms.

 * Efficient and flexible communication links based on the MP
   protocol and library

 * Easy-to-use, command-driven user-interface

 * Intuitive, C-like programming language

 * Extensive libraries of procedures, written in Singular's
   programming language

 * Written in C/C++. Available as source and binary for some hard- and
   software platforms (including most Un*x variants, MS-DOG, MacOS)


Distribution of Singular
========================
The newest version of Singular is always available by anonymous ftp
from 
	     www.mathematik.uni-kl.de:/pub/Math/Singular

Binary versions of Singular for common hard- and software
platforms are contained in the files Singular-1.0.<platform>.gz where
<platform> is, for example, 'linux', 'SunOS', etc.  See the file
README.bin for more information about the distribution of Singular
binaries.

Architecture - independent files (such as libraries written in the
Singular programming language, and the Singular documentation) are
distributed as Singular-1.0-share.tar.gz. See the file README.share
for more information. 

In general, Singular is only available as binary program. For
exceptions, you may contact us at
        singular@mathematik.uni-kl.de

The source is distributed in two versions:
  1. A full source distribution of Singular is contained in
     Singular-full-1.0.tar.gz.  This (gzip'ed and tar'ed) file
     contains the source code, documentation, and supporting data
     files for the Singular kernel, and for all add-on packages,
     i.e. for the GMP, MP, Factory, and Libfac libraries.

  2. A kernel source distribution of Singular can be found in
     Singular-1.0.tar.gz This (gzip'ed and tar'ed) contains the
     sources, documentation and supporting data files for Singular,
     only, i.e., it comes WITHOUT the sources for any of the add-on
     packages.

Singular's performance is best, if it is linked with the GNU Multiple
precision library (GMP), instead of the smallgmp library which is
contained in the full source distribution. Furhtermore, Singular's
terminal i/o is most convenient if it is linked with the GNU readline
library.  The GMP library and the readline library is available at
ftp.gnu.ai.mit.edu or its mirrors. You have to have these library
already installed, before Singular can be linked with them. For more
information, see the file README.src contained in this directory.

The MP library library is avialbale from mcs.kent.edu:/pub/MP/
For further information on MP, see also
http://symbolicnet.mcs.kent.edu/areas/protocols/mp.html

The factory and libfac library are available from
www.mathematik.uni-kl.de:/pub/Math/

Documentation to Singular is distributed as:
Singular-1.0.dvi.gz	 - Reference manual in dvi format
Tutorial.dvi.gz		 - Singular tutorial in dvi format
Singular-1.0.ps.gz	 - Reference manual in postscript format
Tutorial.dvi.gz		 - Singular tutorial in postscript format
singular.hlp.gz		 - Reference manual in Info format
Singular-1.0.html.tar.gz - Reference manual in html format


More information about Singular: Comments, Questions, Bug Reports
=================================================================

More and up-to-date information about Singular is always available
from 
	   http://www.mathematik.uni-kl.de/~wwwzca/Singular
We very much welcome any comments, questions, and bug reports. Please
contact us at  
		    singular@mathematik.uni-kl.de


GOOD LUCK and ENJOY!                         Your Singular team.


