Merge remote-tracking branch 'origin/devel'

.gitignore

@@ -22,3 +22,6 @@ css/custom.css
 
 # file marking a development version
 .hrm_devel_version
+
+# Composer's vendor folder 
+/vendor/

README.md

@@ -6,3 +6,35 @@ The Huygens Remote Manager is an open-source, efficient, multi-user web-based in
 For more information please see:
  * [HRM project website](http://huygens-rm.org/)
  * [HRM documentation on ReadTheDocs.org](http://huygens-remote-manager.readthedocs.org/en/latest/)
+ * [HRM API](http://api.huygens-rm.org/html/index.html)
+
+Download and install dependences for development
+------------------------------------------------
+
+In the console, run:
+
+```bash
+$ cd $HRM_ROOT
+$ ./setup/setup_devel.sh 
+```
+
+This will update composer, and download and install all third-party libraries used for development. Please notice that the the development dependencies are way more than those needed for release (see below).
+
+Package an HRM release
+----------------------
+
+In the console, run:
+
+```bash
+$ cd $HRM_ROOT
+$ ./setup/package_release.sh workdir archive_name 
+```
+
+This will update composer, download and install all third-party libraries necessary for the release version of HRM, and then package everything into a zip file ready for distribution.
+
+Example:
+
+```bash
+$ cd $HRM_ROOT
+$ ./setup/package_release.sh /tmp ~/hrm_3.4.0.zip 
+```