diff --git a/readme.txt b/README.md
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rename from readme.txt
rename to README.md
index c7a1f1b..c30f678 100644
--- a/readme.txt
+++ b/README.md
@@ -1,58 +1,67 @@
-Welcome to the Apache JUDDI Project!
-
-Here's some quick notes for building, testing and deploying JUDDI from source.
-
-1) Acquire a JDK8 or higher and setup the JAVA_HOME environment variable
-2) Acquire Apache Maven. Known working version: 3.2.1 or newer
-3) Setup an environment variable, MAVEN_OPTS=-Xmx768m -XX:MaxPermSize=512m
-4) Make sure the Maven/bin folder and the JDK/bin folders are in the current path
-5) execute "mvn clean install"
-
-That should build the key modules of the project and test most of the Java components. Depending on your computer's speed, it can take up to 15 minutes to build.
-
-To enable additional output during the build and test project:
-	mvn clean install -Ddebug=true
-
-To build all of the project modules, including utilities and sample projects, run the majority of the integration tests and documentation (this is our CI build):
-	mvn clean install -Pdist
-	
-	
-To attach the debugger to the build process
-mvn -Dmaven.surefire.debug clean install
-It listens on port 5005 by default. More info on debugging maven projects is here http://maven.apache.org/surefire/maven-surefire-plugin/examples/debugging.html
-
-To setup an Eclipse environment, simply import the maven project.
-
-To setup a Netbeans environment, start netbeans and open the maven based project
-
-
-To build your changes locally and skip the the tests run:
-mvn install -DskipTests=true
-
-To also build the Pluto/GWT/Portlet interface
-cd juddi-console
-mvn clean install
-
-To start Juddi's embedded Tomcat server:
-juddi-tomcat\target\tomcat\apache-tomcat-9.0.XX\bin\startup.bat
-juddi-tomcat\target\tomcat\apache-tomcat-9.0.XX\bin\startup.sh
-
-To build the .NET components of jUDDI
-cd juddi-client.net
-mono users use: xbuild juddi-client.net-mono.sln
-.net users user: msbuild juddi-client.net.sln
-
-To test the .NET components of jUDDI using nunit
-nunit-console.exe juddi-client.net.test\bin\Debug\juddi-client.net.test.dll
-
-To run the integration tests on the .NET components of jUDDI using nunit
-catalina run (start the jUDDI tomcat server)
-nunit-console.exe juddi-client.net-integration.test\bin\Debug\juddi-client.net-integration.test.dll
-
-
-UPGRADING
-Note: one or more of the database columns names have changed.
-
-OpenJDK users: please install icedtea-plugin if you run into trouble with the juddi-gui-dsig project
-
+# Welcome to the Apache JUDDI Project!
+
+Here's some quick notes for building, testing and deploying JUDDI from source.
+
+See our website at https://juddi.apache.org 
+
+# Building
+
+1) Acquire a JDK8 and setup the JAVA_HOME environment variable
+2) Acquire Apache Maven. Known working version: 3.2.1 or newer
+3) Setup an environment variable, MAVEN_OPTS=-Xmx768m -XX:MaxPermSize=512m
+4) Make sure the Maven/bin folder and the JDK/bin folders are in the current path
+5) execute `mvn clean install`
+
+That should build the key modules of the project and test most of the Java components. Depending on your computer's speed, it can take up to 15 minutes to build.
+
+To enable additional output during the build and test project:
+
+	mvn clean install -Ddebug=true
+
+To build all of the project modules, including utilities and sample projects, run the majority of the integration tests and documentation (this is our CI build):
+
+	mvn clean install -Pdist
+	
+	
+To attach the debugger to the build process
+
+	mvn -Dmaven.surefire.debug clean install
+
+It listens on port 5005 by default. More info on debugging maven projects is here http://maven.apache.org/surefire/maven-surefire-plugin/examples/debugging.html
+
+## IDE imports
+
+To setup an Eclipse environment, simply import the maven project.
+
+To setup a Netbeans environment, start netbeans and open the maven based project
+
+
+## To build your changes locally and skip the the tests run:
+
+`mvn install -DskipTests=true`
+
+To start Juddi's embedded Tomcat server:
+
+	juddi-tomcat\target\tomcat\apache-tomcat-9.0.XX\bin\startup.bat
+	juddi-tomcat\target\tomcat\apache-tomcat-9.0.XX\bin\startup.sh
+
+To build the .NET components of jUDDI
+
+	cd juddi-client.net
+
+mono users use: `xbuild juddi-client.net-mono.sln`
+
+.net users user: `msbuild juddi-client.net.sln`
+
+To test the .NET components of jUDDI using nunit
+
+	nunit-console.exe juddi-client.net.test\bin\Debug\juddi-client.net.test.dll
+
+To run the integration tests on the .NET components of jUDDI using nunit
+
+	catalina run (start the jUDDI tomcat server)
+	nunit-console.exe juddi-client.net-integration.test\bin\Debug\juddi-client.net-integration.test.dll
+
+OpenJDK users: please install icedtea-plugin if you run into trouble with the juddi-gui-dsig project
+
  
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