From 0b3080d828dddc42794b45441294362adddca44b Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: "Ryan C. Gordon" <icculus@icculus.org>
Date: Wed, 16 Sep 2015 01:21:44 -0400
Subject: [PATCH] Added a README.

---
 README.txt | 64 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 1 file changed, 64 insertions(+)
 create mode 100644 README.txt

diff --git a/README.txt b/README.txt
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+What is this?
+
+This is a small piece of code, written in C++, that acts as a bridge between
+a child process and the Steamworks SDK. The child process links against a
+small piece of code, written in C, to facilitate communication with the
+bridge.
+
+What would I ever need this for?
+
+There are two good reasons to use this piece of code:
+
+- You have a GPL-licensed game and can't link directly against the Steamworks
+SDK. The child process links against the simple, open source C code, which
+talks to the open source C++ code via a pipe, which talks to Steamworks. You
+can now add Steam achievements to your game without violating the GPL.
+
+- You have a game written in a programming language that can't interact with
+C++ directly, so you can't make use of the Steamworks SDK directly. If your
+language can link to C-callable code, you can use this to wire up to
+Steamworks.
+
+
+How does it work?
+
+- The parent process (the C++ code) gets launched as if it were your game. It
+initializes Steamworks, creates some pipes and launches your actual game, then
+waits on your game to talk to it over those pipes.
+
+- Your game links against steamshim_child.c and at some point #includes
+steamshim_child.h to use this functionality.
+
+- Your game calls STEAMSHIM_init() at startup to prepare the system. It can
+then make other STEAMSHIM_*() calls to interact with the parent process and
+Steamworks.
+
+- Your game, once a frame, calls STEAMSHIM_pump() until it returns NULL. Each
+time it doesn't return NULL is a new message (event) from the parent process.
+Often times, this is results from a command you asked the parent process to
+do earlier, or some other out-of-band event from Steamworks.
+
+- Your game, when shutting down normally, calls STEAMSHIM_deinit(), so the
+parent process knows you're going away. It says goodbye, shuts down the pipe,
+waits for your game to terminate, and then terminates itself.
+
+
+Is this all of Steamworks?
+
+- No! It's actually just enough to deal with stats and achievements right now,
+but it can definitely be extended to offer more things. Take a look at
+
+
+Is there an example?
+
+That would be testapp.c. This example expects you to own Postal 1 on Steam and
+will RESET ALL YOUR ACHIEVEMENTS, so be careful running it. But hey, if you
+lose your work, it's a good exercise in SteamShim usage to put them back
+again.  :)
+
+Questions? Ask me.
+
+--ryan.
+icculus@icculus.org
+
+