Added general section tom README

README.md

@@ -1,3 +1,33 @@
 # libinstaller
 
-A simple Python tool to install libraries with commonly used compiler- and MPI combinations 
+This Python tool has been developed to automate the installation of libraries frequently used by HPC applications.
+
+## Basic Usage
+To install the library `<lib>` using compiler `<compiler>` and MPI `<mpi>` make sure to have a configuration file `<lib>.json` in the `config` directory and invoke the tool as follows:
+```
+./libinstaller --compiler=<compiler> --mpi=<mpi> --<lib>
+```
+To install all libraries with build recipes in `config`:
+```
+./libinstaller --compiler=<compiler> --mpi=<mpi> --<lib>
+```
+For further options and their default values, please have a look at `./libinstaller -h`:
+```
+usage: libinstaller [-h] [--config CONFIG] [--prefix PREFIX] [--src SRC] [--work WORK] [--keep-work] [--compiler COMPILER] [--mpi MPI] [--threads THREADS]
+                    [--verbose] [--separate-lib64] [--disable-shared] [--all]
+
+options:
+  -h, --help           show this help message and exit
+  --config CONFIG      Path to config directory [$pwd/config]
+  --prefix PREFIX      Path where install directory should be generated [$pwd]
+  --src SRC            Path where to download source code to [$pwd/src]
+  --work WORK          Path to working directory for builds [$pwd/work]
+  --keep-work          Disable removal of work directory after successful builds
+  --compiler COMPILER  Select compiler (gnu, intel, aocc) [gnu]
+  --mpi MPI            Select compiler (hpcx, intelmpi, openmpi) [hpcx]
+  --threads THREADS    Number of threads used for make [8]
+  --verbose            Print build output to screen instead piping it to logfile
+  --separate-lib64     Do not create symbolic links of files from lib64 in lib
+  --disable-shared     Disable building of shared libraries
+  --all                Install all libraries with config file in config/
+```