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+# Swift - An elegant, secure, adaptable and intuitive XMPP Client
+## Quick Start
+Simply run `./scons Swift` on Linux/Mac or `scons.bat Swift` on Windows to build Swift.
+
+This document only covers the general structure, project dependencies and building the Swift GUI application.
+More detailed information on building components, development, testing and packaging can be found in DEVELOPMENT.md.
+
+## Components
+* Swiften: A cross-platform C++ XMPP library.
+* Swift: A Qt-based cross-platform desktop GUI client based on Swiften.
+* Sluift: A XMPP scripting environment based on Lua and Swiften.
+* Limber: A XMPP proxy server proxying zero-configuration (XEP-0174) to a
+connected XMPP client.
+* Slimber: Qt and Cocoa frontends for Limber.
+* SwiftTools: A collection of utilities for Swift.
+
+## Supported Platforms
+* Swift
+    * Windows 7 and later
+    * Mac OS X 10.10 and later
+    * Linux distributions. We usually test on default Ubuntu and Debian installations.
+* Swiften (same as above)
+    * Android
+    * iOS
+
+## External Dependencies
+The Swift repository includes some third party dependencies in the 3rdParty directory
+to easy development. Third party dependencies not included are listed below:
+
+* OpenSSL is required when building Swiften on Linux or Android
+* Qt 5 is required by Swift; **Qt up to version Qt 5.5 is supported**
+
+## General Build Instructions
+The Swift projects use the SCons build system for build configuration and Build
+execution. SCons is one of the included third party dependencies.
+
+To build all Swift components simply run SCons. On Mac OS X and Linux you run the `./scons` command. On Windows you run the `scons.bat` command in a Visual Studio developer shell.
+
+On multi-processor systems, i.e. most desktop and server machines, you can use the `-j NUMBER_OF_PARALLEL_TASKS` flag to speed up build time.
+
+## Platform Specific Instructions
+### Mac OS X
+#### Prerequisites
+- XCode (C++ 11 compiler) or Clang
+- Qt 5: The binary release of Qt provided on https://www.qt.io/download-open-source/ works just fine.
+
+#### Building Swift
+
+After installing Qt, simply run `./scons qt=/Users/username/Qt_installation_path/Qt/5.4.2/5.4/clang_64 Swift` to build Swift. Afterwards you can find a runnable app bundle at `Swift/QtUI/Swift.app`.
+
+### Windows
+#### Prerequisites
+- Microsoft Visual Studio 2013 Express or later (C++11)
+- Windows SDK
+- Python (2.5 <= version < 3)
+- Qt Open Source Edition
+
+A binary release of Qt can be obtained from https://www.qt.io/download-open-source/. Make sure it matches the Visual Studio version you have installed.
+
+#### Building Swift
+
+From the 'Visual C++' 'Programs' group, launch the Visual C++ command prompt, go to your checked out Swift directory and run `scons.bat qt=C:\path\to\qt Swift` to build Swift.
+
+To start Swift, simply change to `Swift/QtUI` and run `Swift.exe`.
+
+### Unix / Linux
+#### Prerequisites
+On Linux Swift mainly depends on Qt and OpenSSL.
+To install all required dependencies take a look at `./BuildTools/InstallSwiftDependencies.sh`. It is a script that supports various Linux distributions and will install the required system packages for building and running Swift.
+
+On Unix/Linux SCons will use `pkg-config` to determine the compiler and linker flags for Qt 5.
+
+Note: The Qt that comes with your Linux distribution might not be up to date and may have issues with some desktop environments.
+
+### Building Swift
+To build Swift, simply open a terminal, go to the project root and run `./scons Swift`. Afterwards you can start Swift by running `./Swift/QtUI/swift-im`.