X-Git-Url: https://git.saurik.com/redis.git/blobdiff_plain/ca1f766a550bf204f4a618c374649bb3f182030c..8f984bef2964cab3ddf6b4ea3065fcf7f6bdc36a:/README

diff --git a/README b/README
index e3054887..1c3f5746 100644
--- a/README
+++ b/README
@@ -7,6 +7,13 @@ 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
@@ -26,18 +33,19 @@ NOTE: if after building Redis with a 32 bit target you need to rebuild it
 Allocator
 ---------
 
-By default Redis compiles and links against jemalloc under Linux, since
-glibc malloc() has memory fragmentation problems.
-
-To force a libc malloc() build use:
+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.
 
-    % make FORCE_LIBC_MALLOC=yes
+To force compiling against libc malloc, use:
 
-In all the other non Linux systems the libc malloc() is used by default.
+    % make MALLOC=libc
 
-On Mac OS X you can force a jemalloc based build using the following:
+To compile against jemalloc on Mac OS X systems, use:
 
-    % make USE_JEMALLOC=yes
+    % make MALLOC=jemalloc
 
 Verbose build
 -------------
@@ -61,6 +69,15 @@ 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
 ------------------