:README file: n. Hacker's-eye introduction traditionally included
in the top-level directory of a UNIX source distribution,
containing a pointer to more detailed documentation, credits,
miscellaneous revision history, notes, etc. (The file may be named
README, or READ.ME, or rarely ReadMe or readme.txt or some other
variant.) In the Mac and PC worlds, software is not usually
distributed in source form, and the README is more likely to
contain user-oriented material like last-minute documentation
changes, error workarounds, and restrictions. When asked, hackers
invariably relate the README convention to the famous scene in
Lewis Carroll's "Alice's Adventures In Wonderland" in which
Alice confronts magic munchies labeled "Eat Me" and "Drink Me".
-- The AI Hackers Dictionary
kit n.
[Usenet; poss. fr. DEC slang for a full
software distributio as opposed to a patch or upgrade] A source
software distribution that has been packaged in such a way that it
can (theoretically) be unpacked and installed according to a series
of steps using only standard Unix tools, and entirely documented by
some reasonable chain of references from the top-level README file....