Prudence is a platform on which you can build scalable web frontends and network services. Server-side code can be written in JavaScript, Python, Ruby, PHP, Lua, Groovy, or Clojure. Though minimalistic, Prudence addresses real-world, practical needs, from state-of-the-art server- and client-side caching to URI rewriting and virtual hosting.

Please see the [Prudence web site] (http://threecrickets.com/prudence/) for comprehensive documentation.

To completely build Prudence you need [Ant] (http://ant.apache.org/), [Maven] (http://maven.apache.org/) and [Sincerity] (http://threecrickets.com/sincerity/).

You may need to create a file named "/build/private.properties" (see below) and override the default locations for Maven and Sincerity.

Then, simply change to the "/build/" directory and run "ant".

During the build process, build and distribution dependencies will be downloaded from an online repository at http://repository.threecrickets.com/, so you will need Internet access.

The result of the build will go into the "/build/distribution/" directory. Temporary files used during the build process will go into "/build/cache/", which you are free to delete.

If you only want to build the Prudence Jar, then you only need Ant (you don't need Maven and Sincerity). Run the "libraries" Ant target instead of the default one.

The "/build/custom.properties" file contains configurable settings, along with some commentary on what they are used for. You are free to edit that file, however to avoid git conflicts, it would be better to create your own "/build/private.properties" instead, in which you can override any of the settings. That file will be ignored by git.

To avoid the "bootstrap class path not set" warning during compilation (harmless), configure the "compile.boot" setting in "private.properties" to the location of an "rt.jar" file belonging to JVM version 6.

To build the manual, as part of the standard build process, you will need to install [LyX] (http://www.lyx.org/) and [eLyXer] (http://elyxer.nongnu.org/), and configure their paths in "private.properties".

You can create distribution packages (zip, deb, rpm, IzPack) using the appropriate "package-" Ant targets. They will go into the "/build/distribution/" directory.

If you wish to sign the deb and rpm packages, you need to install the "dpkg-sig" and "rpm" tools, and configure their paths and your keys in "private.properties".

In order to build the platform installers (for Windows and OS X), you will need to install [InstallBuilder] (http://installbuilder.bitrock.com/) and configure its path in "private.properties".

BitRock has generously provided the Prudence project with a free license, available under "/build/installbuilder/license.xml". It will automatically be used by the build process.

Join the [Prudence Community] (http://groups.google.com/group/prudence-community), and tell us where you're stuck! We're very happy to help newcomers get up and running.