VMD Plugin README
-----------------
  This directory is the root of the plugin directory for VMD.  
VMD plugins are designed to add new functionality and support for new types
of files or external programs without compiling that functionality into the
main body of VMD's code.  Most plugins take the form of a shared library 
(files named xxx.so or xxx.dll) which can be detected by VMD and loaded at 
run time.  The plugin and the application communicate through a well-defined 
API, which makes the plugin more reusable by avoiding direct coupling to 
VMD's internal data structures.  Similarly, plugins can be upgraded at
any time, independent of VMD itself.

For additional information on compiling the plugins and building VMD,
please read the web-based plugin documentation here:
  http://www.ks.uiuc.edu/Research/vmd/plugins/doxygen/

Plugin directory structure
--------------------------
/_plugin: 
  Directories that end in _plugin are plugin source repositories.  All 
plugins of a given type (i.e., which use the same API) should be placed in the
corresponding directory.  Each plugin directory contains the following 
subdirectories:
 - src: source code for all plugins of that type;
 - msvc: Microsoft Visual Studio project files for each plugin;
 - doc: documentation for each plugin.
The plugin directory also contains a Makefile for compiling all the plugins.
The Makefile currently is for a gcc target only.

/compile:
  Contains compiled binary plugins, both static and dynamic, as well as
related header files, etc. 

/include: 
  This directory contains the VMD plugin API header files, including
vmdplugin.h (the base-level plugin header) as well as headers for other plugin
types.  Alternatively, these files may be linked from the VMD source tree.

/msvc: 
  Contains a Microsoft Visual Studio workspace file for compiling all
the plugins for the Win32 platform.


