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+# gophercloud
+
+gophercloud is a flexible SDK that allows you to consume and work with OpenStack
+clouds in a simple and idiomatic way using golang. Many services are supported,
+including Compute, Block Storage, Object Storage, Networking, and Identity.
+Each service API is backed with documentation, code samples, unit tests and
+acceptance tests.
+
+## How to install
+
+Before installing, you need to ensure that your [GOPATH environment variable](https://golang.org/doc/code.html#GOPATH)
+is pointing to an appropriate directory where you want to install gophercloud:
+
+```bash
+mkdir $HOME/go
+export GOPATH=$HOME/go
+```
+
+Once this is set up, you can install the gophercloud package like so:
+
+```bash
+go get github.com/rackspace/gophercloud
+```
+
+This will install all the source files you need into a `pkg` directory, which is
+referenceable from your own source files.
+
+## Getting started
+
+### Credentials
+
+Because you'll be hitting an API, you will need to retrieve your OpenStack
+credentials and either store them as environment variables or in your local Go
+files. The first method is recommended because it decouples credential
+information from source code, allowing you to push the latter to your version
+control system without any security risk.
+
+You will need to retrieve the following:
+
+* username
+* password
+* tenant name or tenant ID
+* a valid Keystone identity URL
+
+For users that have the OpenStack dashboard installed, there's a shortcut. If
+you visit the `project/access_and_security` path in Horizon and click on the
+"Download OpenStack RC File" button at the top right hand corner, you will
+download a bash file that exports all of your access details to environment
+variables. To execute the file, run `source admin-openrc.sh` and you will be
+prompted for your password.
+
+### Authentication
+
+Once you have access to your credentials, you can begin plugging them into
+gophercloud. The next step is authentication, and this is handled by a base
+"Provider" struct. To get one, you can either pass in your credentials
+explicitly, or tell gophercloud to use environment variables:
+
+```go
+// Option 1: Pass in the values yourself
+opts := gophercloud.AuthOptions{
+  IdentityEndpoint: "https://my-openstack.com:5000/v2.0",
+  Username: "{username}",
+  Password: "{password}",
+  TenantID: "{tenant_id}",
+}
+
+// Option 2: Use a utility function to retrieve all your environment variables
+import "github.com/rackspace/gophercloud/openstack/utils"
+opts, err := utils.AuthOptions()
+```
+
+Once you have the `opts` variable, you can pass it in and get back a
+`ProviderClient` struct:
+
+```go
+import "github.com/rackspace/gophercloud/openstack"
+
+provider, err := openstack.AuthenticatedClient(opts)
+```
+
+The `ProviderClient` is the top-level client that all of your OpenStack services
+derive from. The provider contains all of the authentication details that allow
+your Go code to access the API - such as the base URL and token ID.
+
+### Next steps
+
+Cool! You've handled authentication and got your `ProviderClient`. You're now
+ready to use an OpenStack service.
+
+* [Getting started with Compute](http://gophercloud.io/docs/compute)
+* [Getting started with Object Storage](http://gophercloud.io/docs/object-storage)
+* [Getting started with Networking](http://gophercloud.io/docs/networking)
+* [Getting started with Block Storage](http://gophercloud.io/docs/block-storage)
+* [Getting started with Identity](http://gophercloud.io/docs/identity)
+
+## Contributing
+
+Engaging the community and lowering barriers for contributors is something we
+care a lot about. For this reason, we've taken the time to write a [contributing
+guide](./CONTRIBUTING.md) for folks interested in getting involved in the project.
+If you're not sure what you can do to get involved, feel free to submit an issue
+or ping us an e-mail! You don't need to be a Go expert - all members of the
+community are welcome.
+
+## Help and feedback
+
+If you're struggling with something or have spotted a potential bug, feel free
+to submit an issue to our [bug tracker](/issues) or e-mail us directly at
+sdk-support@rackspace.com.