1.1 --- a/README_REPOSITORY	Wed Jul 25 11:59:22 2012 +0200
     1.2 +++ b/README_REPOSITORY	Wed Jul 25 12:38:54 2012 +0200
     1.3 @@ -233,14 +233,28 @@
     1.4  Building a repository version of Isabelle
     1.5  -----------------------------------------
     1.6  
     1.7 -Compared to a proper distribution or development snapshot, it is
     1.8 -relatively hard to build from the raw repository version.  Essential
     1.9 -contributing components are missing and need to be reconstructed by
    1.10 -running the Admin/build script by hand.  Afterwards the main Isabelle
    1.11 -system and logic images can be compiled via the toplevel ./build
    1.12 -script.  Note that the repository lacks some textual version
    1.13 -identifiers in the sources and scripts; this implies some changed
    1.14 -behavior when processing settings etc.
    1.15 +A proper Isabelle distribution contains many add-on components that
    1.16 +are important for practical use.  Some extra configuration is required
    1.17 +to approximate this system integration from a bare-bones repository
    1.18 +snapshot; see also its directory Admin/ (which is absent in official
    1.19 +releases).
    1.20  
    1.21 -There is no guarantee that the NEWS file is up to date at an arbitrary
    1.22 -point in history.
    1.23 \ No newline at end of file
    1.24 +  (1) Admin/components lists potentially relevant components, with
    1.25 +    explicit version information for the given repository version.
    1.26 +    For example, this allows to bisect over Mercurial history while
    1.27 +    the contributing components change accordingly.
    1.28 +
    1.29 +  (2) Admin/init_components is a bash script that can be sourced in
    1.30 +    $ISABELLE_HOME_USER/etc/settings to initialize components listed
    1.31 +    in Admin/components and present in $ISABELLE_HOME_USER/contrib/.
    1.32 +
    1.33 +  (3) http://isabelle.in.tum.de/components/ provides tar.gz archives
    1.34 +    of many components, excluding some non-free ones (which are also
    1.35 +    not part of Isabelle releases).
    1.36 +
    1.37 +Also note that the repository lacks some textual version identifiers
    1.38 +in the sources and scripts; this implies some changed behavior when
    1.39 +processing settings etc. -- especially the location of
    1.40 +$ISABELLE_HOME_USER provided by the system.
    1.41 +
    1.42 +The isabelle build tool allows to build logic images.