WHAT TO READ?
=============

If you haven't installed the asn1cpp yet, read the INSTALL file for
a short installation guide.

For the list of asn1cpp command line options, see `asn1cpp -h` or `man asn1cpp`.

If you are building the compiler from the sources, these documents reside
in the ./doc directory, otherwise they lie nearby the README file you're
reading right now.

Please also read the FAQ file.

An excellent book on ASN.1 is written by Olivier Dubuisson:
"ASN.1 Communication between heterogeneous systems", ISBN:0-12-6333361-0.

QUICK START
============================================

After building [and installing] the compiler (see INSTALL), you may use
the asn1c command to compile the ASN.1 specification:

	asn1cpp <module.asn1>			# Compile module

If several specifications contain interdependencies, all of them must be
specified:

	asn1cpp <module1.asn1> <module2.asn1> ...	# Compile interdependent modules


The compiler -P option is used to instruct the compiler to print the
compiled text on the standard output instead of creating multiple .cpp
and .hpp files for every ASN.1 type found inside the specified ASN.1 modules.
This is useful for debugging and test automation.

The compiler -E and -EF options are used for testing the parser and
the semantic fixer, respectively. These options will instruct the compiler
to dump out the parsed (and fixed) ASN.1 specification as it was
"understood" by the compiler. It might be useful for checking
whether a particular syntactic construction is properly supported
by the compiler.

	asn1cpp -EF <module-to-test.asn1>		# Check semantic validity


MODEL OF OPERATION
==================

The asn1cpp compiler works by processing the ASN.1 module specification
in several stages:
1. In the first stage, the ASN.1 file is parsed.
	(Parsing produces an ASN.1 syntax tree for the subsequent levels)
2. In the second stage, the syntax tree is "fixed".
	(Fixing is a process of checking the tree for semantic errors,
	 accompanied by the tree transformation into the canonical form)
3. In the third stage, the syntax tree is compiled into the target language.

There are several command-line options reserved for printing the results
after each stage of operation:

	<parser> => print					(-E)
	<parser> => <fixer> => print				(-E -F)
	<parser> => <fixer> => <compiler> => print		(-P)
	<parser> => <fixer> => <compiler> => save-compiled	[default]


-- 
Dmitriy Chugunov
[email protected]