===== Win32-Loader - 0.6.21+squeeze0 =====

== What is Win32-Loader? ==

win32-loader is a component of the Debian-Installer that runs on Windows and
has the ability to load the actual installer either from the network or from
CD-ROM media (as in the version included in the official CD images).

This executable is the standalone flavour, which downloads the Debian
Installer from official Debian mirrors.

== How does it work? ==

After a GPL license acceptance, the executable prompts the user for some
options and tries to get defaults from the Windows environment. It then
downloads the Debian installer and kernel from official Debian mirrors. It
puts them in a Windows directory and safely modifies the Windows bootloader to
enable a choice between the legacy Windows installation and the Debian
installer at boot time.

On the next reboot, the user can choose to continue the installation of
Debian. The installation will be run using the defaults gathered from the
runtime analysis and user prompting.

== Removal ==

When win32-loader.exe is uninstalled, it removes the Debian-Installer image
and kernel and restores the Windows bootloader settings.

== NSIS ==

win32-loader is heavily based on the "Nullsoft Scriptable Install System". In
fact it could not have seen the light without the flexibility and all the
features NSIS provides. This win32-loader.exe was built using the NSIS Debian
package in its 2.46-2 version.

== Embedded software ==

win32-loader in its standalone flavour embeds various files and win32
executables from the following Debian packages:

grub-pc                   1.98+20100804-14          http://ftp.debian.org/debian/pool/main/g/grub2
cpio-win32                2.11-4                    http://ftp.debian.org/debian/pool/main/c/cpio
gzip-win32                1.3.12-9                  http://ftp.debian.org/debian/pool/main/g/gzip

== Authors and licensing ==

This is win32-loader, written and maintained by Robert Millan <rmh@debian.org>
on Fri, 18 May 2007 18:34:48 +0200.

The original source can always be found at:
	http://ftp.debian.org/debian/pool/main/w/win32-loader/

Copyright (C) 2007,2008,2009 Robert Millan
Copyright (C) 2010 Didier Raboud

License:

  This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
  it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
  the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
  (at your option) any later version.

  This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
  but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
  MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
  GNU General Public License for more details.

  You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
  along with this program.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.

On Debian systems, the complete text of the GNU General
Public License can be found in `/usr/share/common-licenses/GPL-3'.