Subject: [PATCH v2] gitk: add README with usage, build, and contributing details

From: Michael Rappazzo <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 21 Aug 2025 18:25:49 -0400

Signed-off-by: Michael Rappazzo <[email-masked]>
---
Changes from v1:
 - Added Usage section with basic gitk command examples
 - Simplified Contributing section by removing detailed patch workflow instructions
 - Removed repository status and integration details

 README.md | 61 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 1 file changed, 61 insertions(+)
 create mode 100644 README.md

diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..fd249bc24d
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+# gitk - The Git Repository Browser
+
+gitk is a graphical Git repository browser. It displays the commit history of a Git repository as a graph, showing the relationships between commits, branches, and tags.
+
+## Usage
+
+To view the history of the current repository:
+```bash
+gitk
+```
+
+To view the history of specific files or directories:
+```bash
+gitk path/to/file
+gitk path/to/directory
+```
+
+To view a specific branch or range of commits:
+```bash
+gitk branch-name
+gitk v1.0..v2.0
+```
+
+For more usage examples and options, see the [gitk manual](https://git-scm.com/docs/gitk).
+
+## Building
+
+gitk is a Tcl/Tk application. It requires Tcl/Tk to be installed on your system.
+
+### Running directly
+```bash
+./gitk
+```
+
+### Installation
+To install system-wide, you can use either `make` or `meson`:
+
+```bash
+# Using Make
+make install
+
+# Using Meson
+meson setup builddir
+meson compile -C builddir
+meson install -C builddir
+```
+
+Both build systems will handle setting the correct Tcl/Tk interpreter path and installing translation files.
+
+## Contributing
+
+Contributions are welcome! The preferred method for submitting patches is via email to the Git mailing list, as this allows for more thorough review and broader community feedback. However, GitHub pull requests are also accepted.
+
+All commits must be signed off (use `git commit --signoff`) and should have commit messages prefixed with `gitk:`.
+
+#### Email Patches
+Send patches to [email-masked] and CC [email-masked]. See the Git project's [patch submission guidelines](https://git-scm.com/docs/SubmittingPatches) for detailed instructions on creating and sending patches.
+
+## License
+
+gitk is distributed under the GNU General Public License, either version 2, or (at your option) any later version.
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2.51.0