reformat readme, add detailed install instructions

1 files changed, 76 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/INSTALL.md b/INSTALL.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0296738
--- /dev/null
+++ b/INSTALL.md
@@ -0,0 +1,76 @@
+# Installation
+
+ - [Install from release](#install-from-release)
+ - [Build from source](#build-from-source)
+ - [Verification](#verification)
+ - [Troubleshooting](#troubleshooting)
+
+## Install from release
+
+ 1. Grab the latest release from the
+[releases](https://github.com/NerdyPepper/scientifica/releases)
+page.
+
+ 2. Extract the release package:
+```shell
+tar xzf scientifica-v1.2.tar.gz
+```
+
+3. You may install either the `ttf`s or the `otb`s or the
+`bdf`s
+```shell
+# ttfs are recommended
+cp ttf/* ~/.local/share/fonts/
+
+# but you may install the otbs if you want to
+cp otb/* ~/.local/share/fonts
+
+# bdfs are not recommendedk
+cp bdf/* ~/.local/share/fonts
+```
+
+## Build from source
+
+Requirements:
+
+ - java
+ - [BitsNPicas](https://github.com/kreativekorp/bitsnpicas)
+ - [fontforge](https://fontforge.org)
+ - python3
+
+On Debian based distros, you can install all requirements
+via:
+```
+sudo apt install openjdk-8-jdk openjdk-8-jre python3 fontforge
+curl -o BitsNPicas.jar "https://github.com/kreativekorp/bitsnpicas/blob/master/downloads/BitsNPicas.jar"
+```
+
+1. Open `build.sh` and change variable `BNP` to the full
+   path to the BitsNPicas `jar` file.
+```shell
+# for example.:
+export BNP="/home/nerdypepper/downloads/BitsNPicas.jar"
+```
+
+2. Run `build.sh`
+3. If everything went well, you will find the generated font
+   files under the `build` folder.
+4. Continue with step 3 of "Install from release"
+
+## Verification
+
+Check if your installation procedure was a success:
+
+ 1. Run `fc-list | grep sci`
+ 2. If the output is **not** null, congrats!
+ 3. Proceed to [Troubleshooting](#troubleshooting) if the output is empty
+
+## Troubleshooting
+
+ If your application does not recognize the font, you can
+try a couple of things:
+
+ - use `ttf` variant instead of the `otb` or `bdf`
+   variants
+ - run `fc-cache --really-force -v` and verify again
+ - open an issue, I'd love to help you out!