This is the INSTALL file for the "nobuildfiles" distributions of
libs11n.

Because these distributions are inherently platform-independent, they
include no automated build or installation rules. It comes with a
simple Makefile, src/Makefile, which demonstrates the various code
dependencies and can build object files on most C++ platforms hosting
GNU make.

Whether you use the sample Makefile or not, you may eventually decide
to install this library somewhere. Here are some tips:

All of the headers are in the ./include directory. Copy all subdirs of
that directory to a place where you normally store your shared header
files, like /usr/local/include or C:\Dev\C++\includes. When using this
library from client code, simply include that top-level path to your
platform's INCLUDES equivalent, e.g. -I/usr/local/include.

There is not terribly much point in installing the sources or compiled
object files. If you want to fork them into your own project's tree,
simply copy them over as-is.

If you build libraries, you should then copy them to wherever you like
to keep your shared libraries, like /usr/local/lib or
C:\Windows\System32. As of this writing, s11n does not work completely
when built as a static library, as its factory model requires some
static object resolution rules which apparently don't apply when it
comes to static libraries. The sympoms are that any pointer-based
deserialization will fail, and this happens because factory
registrations never happen, and thus types can't be classloaded.

Linking client apps against installed libraries is inherently platform
specific. On most Unix platforms you would add something like the
following to your linker arguments: -L/usr/local/lib -ls11n

The src dir contains sources for two binaries (applications): a
test/demo app (test.cpp) and s11nconvert (main.cpp). They can be built
by following the rules shown in src/Makefile or linking to shared
libraries which you generate (see above). The test app gives a quick
demonstration of using s11n, but is nowhere near as extensive as the
samples in the core source distribution. The s11nconvert tool can be
used to convert data between any s11n-compatible formats, and is
useful to have around if you're using libs11n.

The full library documentation is available via the website:

http://s11n.net/download/