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* README: Rename to README.md; adjust formatting to follow Markdown
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-== Synopsis ==
+# The atomic_ops library (libatomic_ops)
 
-This package provides semi-portable access to hardware provided
-atomic memory operations.  These might allow you to write code:
+This is version (release) 7.3alpha3 of libatomic_ops.
 
-- That does more interesting things in signal handlers.
-- Makes more effective use of multiprocessors by allowing you to write
-  clever lock-free code.  Note that such code is very difficult to get
-  right, and will unavoidably be less portable than lock-based code.  It
-  is also not always faster than lock-based code.  But it may occasionally
-  be a large performance win.
-- To experiment with new and much better thread programming paradigms, etc.
+You might find a more recent version
+[here](http://www.hpl.hp.com/personal/Hans_Boehm/gc), or
+[here](http://www.hpl.hp.com/research/linux/atomic_ops/).
 
-For details and licensing restrictions see the files in the doc
-subdirectory.
 
-This is version 7.3alpha3 of libatomic_ops.
+## Overview
 
-You might find a more recent version of this at
+This package provides semi-portable access to hardware-provided
+atomic memory update operations on a number architectures.  These might
+allow you to write code:
 
-http://www.hpl.hp.com/personal/Hans_Boehm/gc
+* That does more interesting things in signal handlers.
 
-or
+* Makes more effective use of multiprocessors by allowing you to write
+  clever lock-free code.  Note that such code is very difficult to get
+  right, and will unavoidably be less portable than lock-based code.  It
+  is also not always faster than lock-based code.  But it may occasionally
+  be a large performance win.
+
+* To experiment with new and much better thread programming paradigms, etc.
 
-http://www.hpl.hp.com/research/linux/atomic_ops/
+For details and licensing restrictions see the files in the "doc"
+subdirectory.
 
-Please address bug reports to gc@linux.hpl.hp.com
+Please address bug reports [here](mailto:gc@linux.hpl.hp.com).
 
 
-== Installation and Usage ==
+## Installation and Usage
 
 The configuration and build scripts for this package were generated by
-Automake/Autoconf.  "./configure --prefix=<install dir>; make; make install"
-in this directory should work.  For a more customized build, see the output of
+Automake/Autoconf.  "./configure; make; sudo make install" in this
+directory should work.  For a more customized build, see the output of
 "./configure --help".
 
 Note that much of the content of this library is in the header files.
 However, two small libraries are built and installed:
 
-- libatomic_ops.a is a support library, which is not needed on some platforms.
+* libatomic_ops.a is a support library, which is not needed on some platforms.
   This is intended to be usable, under some mild restrictions, in free or
   proprietary code, as are all the header files.  See doc/LICENSING.txt.
-- libatomic_ops_gpl.a contains some higher level facilities.  This code is
+
+* libatomic_ops_gpl.a contains some higher level facilities.  This code is
   currently covered by the GPL.  The contents currently correspond to
   the headers atomic_ops_stack.h and atomic_ops_malloc.h.
 
 
-== Platform Specific Notes ==
+## Platform Specific Notes
 
 Win32/64: src/Makefile.msft contains a very simple Makefile for building
 and running tests and building the gpl library.  The core atomic_ops
@@ -53,3 +56,8 @@ implementation is entirely in header files.
 
 HP-UX/PA-RISC: aCC -Ae won't work as a C compiler, since it doesn't support
 inline assembly code.  Use cc.
+
+
+## Copyright & Warranty
+
+See doc/LICENSING.txt file.