README.md

NLopt is a library for nonlinear local and global optimization, for
functions with and without gradient information.  It is designed as
as simple, unified interface and packaging of several free/open-source
nonlinear optimization libraries.

The latest version and a complete manual may be found at the NLopt
home page: http://ab-initio.mit.edu/nlopt

It is compiled and installed with the standard GNU autoconf/automake
commands:

	./configure
	make
	make install

(See `./configure --help` or the `INSTALL` file for other options.)

Once it is installed, `#include <nlopt.h>` in your C/C++ programs and
link it with `-lnlopt -lm`.  You may need to use the C++ compiler to link
in order to include the C++ libraries (which are used internally by NLopt,
even though it has a C API).

The minimization function, `nlopt_minimize`, is described in the [man
page](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man_page) (`api/nlopt_minimize.3`,
which is installed by `make install`.

There are also interfaces for Fortran, Python, Matlab, Octave, OCaml,
GNU Guile, GNU R, Lua, and Julia.  Interfaces for other languages may
be added in the future.