Prelude Library (http://www.prelude-ids.org)
by Yoann Vandoorselaere <yoann@prelude-ids.org>


Prelude Library Overview
========================

The Prelude Library is used to make sensor developers' life better by 
providing features used by every sensor:

    - Manager(s) Connection management (with fallback in case all 
      configured Managers are down, and automatic reconnection).
    
    - Interface to communicate with the Prelude Manager.
    
    - Asynchronous Message interface (allowing sensor to emmit message 
      without blocking, even if there is latency on the wire).

    - Asynchronous timer interface.

    - Generic configuration API, providing a generic abstraction for 
      command-line, configuration file option, and wide option support.

    - Wide option managment allowing sensor-exported options to be directly 
      accessible from the Manager administrative console.

    - Generic plugin API.




Prelude Communication
=====================

    Prelude IDS uses unique optimized implementation of the XML based IDMEF 
    message format to transmit alerts between the sensors and the manager 
    and between managers.
    
    Using IDMEF, Prelude provides a generic method for virtually any type 
    of sensors to describe precisely the content of an alert.

    Thanks to decoding plugins of the Manager side, a sensor can decide 
    not to use the IDMEF facilities and send information using a customized 
    protocol based on low-level  Prelude Messaging API (note: It is then 
    necessary to provide the correct decoding  plugin on the Manager side). 
    Note that the sensor can also use both methods.



IRC
===

If there's something you just can't find out elsewhere, you want to 
give feedback directly to the authors or you're just bored, visit 
#prelude on irc.freenode.net



Get Support
===========


Prelude-user mailing list archives can be accessed at:

	http://listes.tuxfamily.org/?A=LIST&L=prelude-user_prelude-ids.org

If you want to subscribe to the list, please send a mail to:

	prelude-user-subscribe@prelude-ids.org


Help development
================

1. SUBMITTING PATCHES

The Prelude source is constantly changing. If you want to submit a patch,
please do so from the most recent CVS source tree, subscribe to the 
prelude-devel mailing list by sending a mail to:

        prelude-devel-subscribe@prelude-ids.org

and post your patch with a description of functionality.
You can also attach patches to bugs on 

        http://bugs.prelude-ids.org


2. BUGS

If you find any bugs, please report them to:

	http://bugs.prelude-ids.org

Please make sure that what you're reporting is actually a BUG and not
a problem on your side.


3. SUGGESTIONS

Subscribe to prelude-devel and give us your suggestions.