-Check the 'doc' directory. doc/README.html is a good starting point :)
+Where to find complete Redis documentation?
+-------------------------------------------
+
+This README is just a fast "quick start" document. You can find more detailed
+documentation at http://redis.io
+
+Building Redis
+--------------
+
+Redis can be compiled and used on Linux, OSX, OpenBSD, NetBSD, FreeBSD.
+We support big endian and little endian architectures.
+
+It may compile on Solaris derived systems (for instance SmartOS) but our
+support for this platform is "best effort" and Redis is not guaranteed to
+work as well as in Linux, OSX, and *BSD there.
+
+It is as simple as:
+
+ % make
+
+You can run a 32 bit Redis binary using:
+
+ % make 32bit
+
+After building Redis is a good idea to test it, using:
+
+ % make test
+
+NOTE: if after building Redis with a 32 bit target you need to rebuild it
+ with a 64 bit target you need to perform a "make clean" in the root
+ directory of the Redis distribution.
+
+Allocator
+---------
+
+Selecting a non-default memory allocator when building Redis is done by setting
+the `MALLOC` environment variable. Redis is compiled and linked against libc
+malloc by default, with the exception of jemalloc being the default on Linux
+systems. This default was picked because jemalloc has proven to have fewer
+fragmentation problems than libc malloc.
+
+To force compiling against libc malloc, use:
+
+ % make MALLOC=libc
+
+To compile against jemalloc on Mac OS X systems, use:
+
+ % make MALLOC=jemalloc
+
+Verbose build
+-------------
+
+Redis will build with a user friendly colorized output by default.
+If you want to see a more verbose output use the following:
+
+ % make V=1
+
+Running Redis
+-------------
+
+To run Redis with the default configuration just type:
+
+ % cd src
+ % ./redis-server
+
+If you want to provide your redis.conf, you have to run it using an additional
+parameter (the path of the configuration file):
+
+ % cd src
+ % ./redis-server /path/to/redis.conf
+
+It is possible to alter the Redis configuration passing parameters directly
+as options using the command line. Examples:
+
+ % ./redis-server --port 9999 --slaveof 127.0.0.1 6379
+ % ./redis-server /etc/redis/6379.conf --loglevel debug
+
+All the options in redis.conf are also supported as options using the command
+line, with exactly the same name.
+
+Playing with Redis
+------------------
+
+You can use redis-cli to play with Redis. Start a redis-server instance,
+then in another terminal try the following:
+
+ % cd src
+ % ./redis-cli
+ redis> ping
+ PONG
+ redis> set foo bar
+ OK
+ redis> get foo
+ "bar"
+ redis> incr mycounter
+ (integer) 1
+ redis> incr mycounter
+ (integer) 2
+ redis>
+
+You can find the list of all the available commands here:
+
+ http://redis.io/commands
+
+Installing Redis
+-----------------
+
+In order to install Redis binaries into /usr/local/bin just use:
+
+ % make install
+
+You can use "make PREFIX=/some/other/directory install" if you wish to use a
+different destination.
+
+Make install will just install binaries in your system, but will not configure
+init scripts and configuration files in the appropriate place. This is not
+needed if you want just to play a bit with Redis, but if you are installing
+it the proper way for a production system, we have a script doing this
+for Ubuntu and Debian systems:
+
+ % cd utils
+ % ./install_server
+
+The script will ask you a few questions and will setup everything you need
+to run Redis properly as a background daemon that will start again on
+system reboots.
+
+You'll be able to stop and start Redis using the script named
+/etc/init.d/redis_<portnumber>, for instance /etc/init.d/redis_6379.
+
+Code contributions
+---
+
+Note: by contributing code to the Redis project in any form, including sending
+a pull request via Github, a code fragment or patch via private email or
+public discussion groups, you agree to release your code under the terms
+of the BSD license that you can find in the COPYING file included in the Redis
+source distribution.
+
+Please see the CONTRIBUTING file in this source distribution for more
+information.
+
+Enjoy!