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+Installation
+============
+
+[TODO(kegan): I also needed libffi-dev, which I don't think is included in build-essential.]
+
+First, the dependencies need to be installed. Start by installing 'python-dev'
+and the various tools of the compiler toolchain:
+
+ Installing prerequisites on ubuntu::
+
+ $ sudo apt-get install build-essential python-dev
+
+ Installing prerequisites on Mac OS X::
+
+ $ xcode-select --install
+
+The homeserver has a number of external dependencies, that are easiest
+to install by making setup.py do so, in --user mode::
+
+ $ python setup.py develop --user
+
+This will run a process of downloading and installing into your
+user's .local/lib directory all of the required dependencies that are
+missing.
+
+Once this is done, you may wish to run the homeserver's unit tests, to
+check that everything is installed as it should be::
+
+ $ python setup.py test
+
+This should end with a 'PASSED' result::
+
+ Ran 143 tests in 0.601s
+
+ PASSED (successes=143)
+
+
+Running The Home Server
+=======================
+
+In order for other home servers to send messages to your server, they will need
+to know its host name. You have two choices here, which will influence the form
+of your user IDs:
+
+ 1) Use the machine's own hostname as available on public DNS in the form of its
+ A or AAAA records. This is easier to set up initially, perhaps for testing,
+ but lacks the flexibility of SRV.
+
+ 2) Set up a SRV record for your domain name. This requires you create a SRV
+ record in DNS, but gives the flexibility to run the server on your own
+ choice of TCP port, on a machine that might not be the same name as the
+ domain name.
+
+For the first form, simply pass the required hostname (of the machine) as the
+--host parameter::
+
+ $ python synapse/app/homeserver.py --host machine.my.domain.name
+
+For the second form, first create your SRV record and publish it in DNS. This
+needs to be named _matrix._tcp.YOURDOMAIN, and point at at least one hostname
+and port where the server is running. (At the current time we only support a
+single server, but we may at some future point support multiple servers, for
+backup failover or load-balancing purposes). The DNS record would then look
+something like::
+
+ _matrix._tcp IN SRV 10 0 8448 machine.my.domain.name.
+
+At this point, you should then run the homeserver with the hostname of this
+SRV record, as that is the name other machines will expect it to have::
+
+ $ python synapse/app/homeserver.py --host my.domain.name --port 8448
+
+You may additionally want to pass one or more "-v" options, in order to
+increase the verbosity of logging output; at least for initial testing.
+
+
+Running The Web Client
+======================
+
+At the present time, the web client is not directly served by the homeserver's
+HTTP server. To serve this in a form the web browser can reach, arrange for the
+'webclient' sub-directory to be made available by any sort of HTTP server that
+can serve static files. For example, python's SimpleHTTPServer will suffice::
+
+ $ cd webclient
+ $ python -m SimpleHTTPServer
+
+You can now point your browser at http://localhost:8000/ to find the client.
+
+If this is the first time you have used the client from that browser (it uses
+HTML5 local storage to remember its config), you will need to log in to your
+account. If you don't yet have an account, because you've just started the
+homeserver for the first time, then you'll need to register one.
+
+Registering A New Account
+-------------------------
+
+Your new user name will be formed partly from the hostname your server is
+running as, and partly from a localpart you specify when you create the
+account. Your name will take the form of::
+
+ @localpart:my.domain.here
+ (pronounced "at localpart on my dot domain dot here")
+
+Specify your desired localpart in the topmost box of the "Register for an
+account" form, and click the "Register" button.
+
+Logging In To An Existing Account
+---------------------------------
+
+[[TODO(paul): It seems the current web client still requests an access_token -
+ I suspect this part will need updating before we can point people at how to
+ perform e.g. user+password or 3PID authenticated login]]
+
+
+Building Documentation
+======================
+
+Before building documentation install spinx and sphinxcontrib-napoleon::
+
+ $ pip install sphinx
+ $ pip install sphinxcontrib-napoleon
+
+Building documentation::
+
+ $ python setup.py build_sphinx
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