aprsc/doc/HOME.md

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aprsc - an APRS-IS server in C
==============================
aprsc (pronounced a-purrs-c) is a plain APRS-IS server intended to be used
on the core and Tier2 APRS-IS servers. It is written in the C language, and
it runs on Linux and Unix servers.
If you need igate or other radio-interfacing features, aprsc is not for you.
If you need to run a server on Windows, aprsc is not for you. Sorry!
A word of caution
--------------------
The aprsc software is brand new, under active development, and release
cycles are currently very quick - be ready to upgrade on a short notice when
new versions are announced. Like any new software, aprsc is likely to
contain new bugs, and some upgrades might have a high priority.
If you're not prepared to upgrade often, please wait for a few months, it
should be more peaceful then. Documentation is not there yet, either, but
if you're an experienced APRS-IS server operator, there should be no big
surprises around.
Features (and lack of)
-------------------------
aprsc has been designed strictly for use within the APRS-IS core, hub and
Tier2 servers. It includes only the basic functionality required by those
servers.
It does not, and will not, have any additional functions such as igating,
digipeating, interfacing to radios, D-PRS or other gateway functions, or
object generation. It will not work on Windows. The idea is to keep aprsc
relatively simple and lean, and leave the more specialized features for more
specialized software.
If you need a nice, compact igate software for Linux, please take a look at
either aprsg, aprx, or aprs4r. If you need to run an APRS-IS server on
Windows or some other platform not supported by aprsc, or if you need the
features existing in javAPRSSrvr which are missing from aprsc, javAPRSSrvr
is the right choice for you - it's got a lot of good features that many of
you need, and it works on virtually all operating systems. If you need an
igate for Windows, APRSIS32 should be good.
Licensing, environments and requirements
-------------------------------------------
aprsc is open source, licensed under the BSD license. It has about 11000
lines of relatively clean C code, built using the usual ./configure && make
&& make install method. The embedded HTTP status server is powered by the
libevent2 library, no other extra libraries are needed.
Linux and OS X are the main development environments and will receive
premium support, but FreeBSD and Solaris 11 are known to work too. Packaged
binaries for Debian and Ubuntu are available for super-easy installations
and automatic upgrades using APT.
Discussion group
-------------------
aprsc has it's own [discussion group][aprsc-group] which also functions as
a mailing list. If you run aprsc, please subscribe to the group to keep
updated on new versions.
[aprsc-group]: https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/aprsc
Getting and installing aprsc
-------------------------------
aprsc is currently best supported on Debian and Ubuntu.
Please refer to the [INSTALLING](INSTALLING.html) document
for instructions.
After the software is installed, please go through the
[CONFIGURATION](CONFIGURATION.html) document.
Other documentation
----------------------
* [README](README.html)
* [Paper on aprsc for TAPR DCC 2012](dcc-2012-aprsc.pdf)
* Presentation slides from TAPR DCC 2012 (will be here shortly)
Contributing to aprsc
------------------------
aprsc is an open source project, so you're welcome to contribute bug fixes
and improvements. Please see [CONTRIBUTING](CONTRIBUTING.html) for details!