Merge pull request #268 from zhangkun83/protoc-artifact-maven

Build scripts to publish precompiled protoc binaries (Maven-based)

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+# Build scripts that publish pre-compiled protoc artifacts
+``protoc`` is the compiler for ``.proto`` files. It generates language bindings
+for the messages and/or RPC services from ``.proto`` files.
+
+Because ``protoc`` is a native executable, the scripts under this directory
+build and publish a ``protoc`` executable (a.k.a. artifact) to Maven
+repositories. The artifact can be used by build automation tools so that users
+would not need to compile and install ``protoc`` for their systems.
+
+## Versioning
+The version of the ``protoc`` artifact must be the same as the version of the
+Protobuf project.
+
+## Artifact name
+The name of a published ``protoc`` artifact is in the following format:
+``protoc-<version>-<os>-<arch>.exe``, e.g., ``protoc-3.0.0-alpha-3-windows-x86_64.exe``.
+
+## System requirement
+Install [Apache Maven](http://maven.apache.org/) if you don't have it.
+
+The scripts only work under Unix-like environments, e.g., Linux, MacOSX, and
+Cygwin or MinGW for Windows. Please see ``README.md`` of the Protobuf project
+for how to set up the build environment.
+
+## To install artifacts locally
+The following command will install the ``protoc`` artifact to your local Maven repository.
+```
+$ mvn install
+```
+
+## Cross-compilation
+The Maven script will try to detect the OS and the architecture from Java
+system properties. It's possible to build a protoc binary for an architecture
+that is different from what Java has detected, as long as you have the proper
+compilers installed. For example, MingGW32 only ships with 32-bit compilers,
+but you can still build 32-bit protoc under a 64-bit system, with the following
+command:
+```
+$ mvn install -Dos.detected.arch=x86_32
+```
+
+## To push artifacts to Maven Central
+Before you can upload artifacts to Maven Central repository, make sure you have
+read [this page](http://central.sonatype.org/pages/apache-maven.html) on how to
+configure GPG and Sonatype account.
+
+Use the following command to upload artifacts:
+```
+$ mvn clean deploy -P release
+```
+