improve the readme slightly, add license

2 files changed, 38 insertions, 2 deletions

diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index 239e1a0..3355184 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -2,8 +2,7 @@
 name = "minor-skulk"
 version = "0.1.0"
 edition = "2021"
-
-# See more keys and their definitions at https://doc.rust-lang.org/cargo/reference/manifest.html
+license = "GPL-3.0-only"
 
 [dependencies]
 anyhow = "1.0"
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 3da6105..33052c6 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -1,5 +1,34 @@
+# minor skulk, an alternative firefox accounts server
+
+this tool only exists because [fxa](https://github.com/mozilla/fxa/) is nearly
+impossible to self-host with adequate amounts of effort. while it is possible to
+do and a couple of instructional repositories exist (mostly using a lot of
+docker containers), even small installs of fxa use a lot of system resources.
+additionally fxa is simply not made with self-hosting in mind and requires both
+google *and* amazon cloud services to function properly outside of development
+or test installations (which use emulators for those cloud services instead).
+
+as such the scope of minor skulk is extremely limited: it exists to make sync
+work. all other features of fxa are out of scope, including (but not limited
+to):
+ - payment processing
+ - support for third-party applications
+ - advanced user management
+ - support tools
+ - and others.
+
+# requirements
+
+ - postgresql 14 or newer
+ - a local smtp server
+ - a tls reverse proxy (for productive deployments)
+ - a [syncstorage-rs](https://github.com/mozilla-services/syncstorage-rs) instance
+
 # installation
 
+minor skulk is built using cargo. rust version 1.61 and newer should work, older
+versions have not been tested.
+
  * compile minor-skulk with `cargo build`.
  * edit `Rocket.toml`, settings values for all the mandatory parameters
    * for test deployments it's sufficient to use the http server provided by
@@ -24,3 +53,11 @@ changes to take effect, then create an account or log in as usual.
 this is a sufficiently involved process that the web interface has a 
 dedicated guide. just open the url of your server in firefox on android
 and follow the guide. ("just". we're so sorry.)
+
+# license
+
+this project is licensed under the terms of the GNU General Public License
+version 3.0 only. portions of this project (the fxa javascript client,
+`web/js/browser`) is a fork of mozilla's
+[fxa-auth-client](https://github.com/mozilla/fxa/blob/main/packages/fxa-auth-client)
+and is licensed under the terms of the Mozilla Public License, v. 2.0.