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+Overview
+========
+
+This repository is a redistribution of the Accellera SystemC 2.3.1 library
+[[1]][sysc]. This distribution replaces Accellera's Autoconf build system with
+a SCons build system, which is very useful for integration of SystemC in other
+SCons based projects, e.g., gem5 [[2]][gem5].
+
+The repository contains all the source files from the Accellera distribution,
+but strips down the boost dependencies. All references to the boost library
+are replaced by calls to the C++11 STL. This repository also contains the
+TLM 2.0 protocl checker from Doulos [[3]][doulos].
+
+Build
+=====
+
+To build libsystemc-2.3.1.so, simply type scons. Optionally you can specify the
+number of jobs.
+
+```
+scons -j N
+```
+
+To build and link to SystemC from another SCons project, simply call the
+SConscript located in `src/`. Be sure to add `-std=c++11` to the `CXXFLAGS` of
+your environment and to export the environment as `'env'`. In case you build on
+OS X, you will need to add `-undefined dynamic lookup` to your `LINKFLAGS`.
+This is how a minimal SConstruct for your SystemC project could look:
+
+```python
+env = Environment()
+
+env.Append(CXXFLAGS=['-std=c++11'])
+if env['PLATFORM'] == 'darwin':
+    env.Append(LINKFLAGS=['-undefined', 'dynamic_lookup'])
+
+systemc = env.SConscript('<path_to_systemc>/src/SConscript', exports=['env'])
+env.Program('example', ['example.cc', systemc])
+```
+
+[sysc]: http://accellera.org/downloads/standards/systemc
+[gem5]: http://www.gem5.org/Main_Page
+[doulos]: https://www.doulos.com/knowhow/systemc/tlm2/base_protocol_checker/