Update toplevel files.

Integrate old INSTALL into README.md, both files had a lot
of (potential) overlap.

Add template for new entries in NEWS, targetting next release.

Bump version number to 6.99-20211218

Tentatively, with the Github migration and all ongoing code
restructuring, we aim for a version 7.0 release at some point
in the future.

Author: dl8dtl

INSTALL

@@ -1,57 +1,4 @@
 Installation Instructions
 *************************
 
-Use `./configure; make all; sudo make install' for Unix-like systems.
-
-Depending on your requirements, the following prerequisites are
-needed:
-
-* libelf including header files (for directly reading ELF files)
-* libusb 0.1 or 1.0 (or compatible), including header files
-* libftdi or libftdi1 (for direct access to FTDI devices)
-* libhidapi or libhid (for access to recent Atmel/Microchip dongles)
-
-If the header and/or library files for one of those are found in
-non-default locations, you can add them to configure, e.g.
-
-`./configure CPPFLAGS=-I/opt/local/include LDFLAGS=-L/opt/local/lib'
-
-as an example for MacOS using Macports.  MacOS Brew requires
-
-`./configure CPPFLAGS=-I/usr/local/include LDFLAGS=-L/usr/local/Cellar'
-
-instead. (LDFLAGS and CPPFLAGS can also be supplied as environment
-variables to configure.)
-
-At the end of the configure script, a configuration summary is issued,
-like this:
-
-Configuration summary:
-----------------------
-DO HAVE    libelf
-DO HAVE    libusb
-DO HAVE    libusb_1_0
-DO HAVE    libftdi1
-DON'T HAVE libftdi
-DON'T HAVE libhid
-DO HAVE    libhidapi
-DO HAVE    pthread
-DISABLED   doc
-DISABLED   parport
-DISABLED   linuxgpio
-DISABLED   linuxspi
-
-Make sure all the features you are interested in have been found.
-
-For BSD-like systems, using GNU make (gmake) is not mandatory but
-appears to cause less troubles with the quite complex dependency graph
-that might be produced by autoconf/automake.
-
-For Windows, right now, a toolset like MinGW is required to compile
-AVRDUDE.
-
-Obviously, a working C compiler is needed. Tested compilers so far
-include GCC (in various versions) and Clang. The compiler needs to
-support (at least) C99 language level. For MacOS, either Xcode or the
-(smaller) Xcode Command Line tools are needed, for Windows, some port
-of GCC that supports generating native Windows executables.
+See README.md.

NEWS

@@ -2,9 +2,29 @@ $Id$
 
 Approximate change log for AVRDUDE by version.
 
-(For more detailed changes, see the ChangeLog file.)
+(For detailed changes, see the version control system logs.)
 
 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
+Changes since version 6.4:
+
+  * Major changes compared to the previous version:
+
+
+  * New devices supported:
+
+
+  * New programmers supported:
+
+
+  * Bugfixes:
+
+
+  * Patches:
+
+
+  * Internals:
+
+
 Version 6.4:
 
   * Major changes compared to the previous version:

README.md

@@ -9,14 +9,14 @@ programming instruction to the AVR chip regardless of whether AVRDUDE
 implements that specific feature of a particular chip.
 
 AVRDUDE was originally written in 2003 by Brian S. Dean. Since 2006, AVRDUDE has been maintained by Jörg Wunsch,
-with the help of [various contributors](https://github.com/avrdudes/avrdude/graphs/contributors).
+with the help of [various contributors](./AUTHORS).
 
 The latest version of AVRDUDE is always available here:\
 <https://github.com/avrdudes/avrdude>
 
 ## Getting AVRDUDE for Windows
 
-To get AVRDUDE for Windows, install the latest version from the [Releases](./releases) page:
+To get AVRDUDE for Windows, install the latest version from the [Releases](http://download.savannah.gnu.org/releases/avrdude/) page.
 
 Alternatively, you may [build AVRDUDE](#building-avrdude-for-windows) yourself from source.
 
@@ -30,6 +30,12 @@ sudo apt-get install avrdude
 
 Alternatively, you may [build AVRDUDE](#building-avrdude-for-linux) yourself from source.
 
+## Getting AVRDUDE for MacOS
+
+On MacOS, AVRDUDE can be installed through Mac Ports.
+
+Alternatively, you may [build AVRDUDE](#building-avrdude-for-macos) yourself from source.
+
 ## Using AVRDUDE
 
 AVRDUDE is a command-line application. Run the command `avrdude` without any arguments for a list of options.
@@ -50,6 +56,59 @@ avrdude -c arduino -P COM1 -b 115200 -p atmega328p -D -U flash:w:objs/blink.hex:
 There are many different programmers and options that may be required for the programming to succeed.
 For more information, refer to the [AVRDUDE documentation](#todo).
 
+## General build instructions
+
+### Prerequisites
+
+Depending on your requirements, the following prerequisites are
+needed:
+
+* libelf including header files (for directly reading ELF files)
+* libusb 0.1 or 1.0 (or compatible), including header files
+* libftdi or libftdi1 (for direct access to FTDI devices)
+* libhidapi or libhid (for access to recent Atmel/Microchip dongles)
+
+### Building
+
+All source code is located in the `src/` subdirectory. Thus all
+instructions are relative to that directory.
+
+Source-code releases contain an up-to-date configure script that
+can be run to generate the required Makefiles:
+
+```console
+cd src && ./configure && make && sudo make install
+```
+At the end of the configure script, a configuration summary is issued,
+like this:
+
+```console
+Configuration summary:
+----------------------
+DO HAVE    libelf
+DO HAVE    libusb
+DO HAVE    libusb_1_0
+DO HAVE    libftdi1
+DON'T HAVE libftdi
+DON'T HAVE libhid
+DO HAVE    libhidapi
+DO HAVE    pthread
+DISABLED   doc
+DISABLED   parport
+DISABLED   linuxgpio
+DISABLED   linuxspi
+```
+
+Make sure all the features you are interested in have been found.
+
+Building the development source tree might possibly require to
+re-generate the configure script using the autoconf/automake
+tools. This can be done using the `bootstrap` script:
+
+```console
+cd src && ./bootstrap
+```
+
 ## Building AVRDUDE for Windows
 
 ### Windows Prerequisites
@@ -95,6 +154,36 @@ cd doc
 make all
 ```
 
+## Building AVRDUDE for MacOS
+
+### Prerequisites
+
+The following things are needed to build AVRDUDE on MacOS:
+
+* a C compiler; either full XCode, or the XCode Command Line tools
+* autoconf, automake, libtool, hidapi, libftdi1, libusb, libelf;
+  they can be installed e.g. from Mac Ports using
+```console
+port install autoconf automake \
+  libtool hidapi libftdi1 libusb libelf
+```
+
+### Compilation
+
+Depending on the location of the prerequisites, the `CPPFLAGS` and
+`LDFLAGS` variables need to be set accordingly. Mac Ports installs
+everything under `/opt/local`, so use
+
+```console
+./configure CPPFLAGS=-I/opt/local/include LDFLAGS=-L/opt/local/lib
+```
+
+MacOS Brew requires
+
+```console
+./configure CPPFLAGS=-I/usr/local/include LDFLAGS=-L/usr/local/Cellar
+```
+
 ## License
 
 AVRDUDE is licensed under the [GNU GPLv2](./COPYING).

src/configure.ac

@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@
 # Process this file with autoconf to produce a configure script.
 
 AC_PREREQ(2.60)
-AC_INIT(avrdude, 6.4, avrdude-dev@nongnu.org)
+AC_INIT(avrdude, 6.99-20211218, avrdude-dev@nongnu.org)
 
 AC_CANONICAL_BUILD
 AC_CANONICAL_HOST