# PuLP, Version 1.9
# Copyright J.S. Roy (js@jeannot.org), 2003-2005
# Copyright Stuart A. Mitchell (stu@stuartmitchell.com)
# See the LICENSE file for copyright information.
# @(#) $Jeannot: README,v 1.8 2005/05/05 09:23:51 js Exp $

PuLP is an LP modeler written in python. PuLP can generate MPS or LP files
and call GLPK[1], COIN CLP/CBC[2], CPLEX[3] and XPRESS[4] to solve linear
problems.

See test1.py and test2.py for simple commented examples.
See test3.py, test4.py and test5.py for slightly more complex examples.

PuLP requires Python >= 2.5.

C modules are provided to use the GLPK, COIN and CPLEX solvers without using
intermediate MPS or LP files. It is faster and more reliable (but some features,
like SOS and some solver options are not available).
You must adjust the Makefile to suit your configuration (this is especially true
for COIN), the you can build each module using:
make pulpGLPK.so
make pulpCOIN.so
make pulpCPLEX.so

The examples require at least a solver in your PATH or a C module.
See test1.py to learn how to use another solver instead. It should work with
GLPK (>= 3.3), CPLEX (v8, v9), COIN CLP/CBC (current version) and XPRESS 2003c.

While I have used this version for large problems for some time, it is
preliminary.

Some errors are not handled carefully (if at all), and documentation is
lacking (use the source).

Comments, bug reports, patches and suggestions are welcome.

References:
[1] http://www.gnu.org/software/glpk/glpk.html
[2] http://www.coin-or.org/
[3] http://www.cplex.com/
[4] http://www.dashoptimization.com/
