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README.md

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+# intrusive reference counting
+
+Refcnt is a small shared library supplying intrusive reference counting.
+
+## Features
+
+- base class `ref::Refcounted`.
+  Application classes opt-in to reference counting by inheriting this class.
+- common base simplifies connecting to common-base-object applications such as python, java etc.
+
+## Getting Started
+
+### build + install `indentlog` dependency
+
+see [github/rconybea/indentlog](https://github.com/Rconybea/indentlog)
+
+### copy `refcnt` repository locally
+```
+$ git clone git@github.com:rconybea/refcnt.git
+$ ls -d refcnt
+refcnt
+```
+
+### build + install
+```
+$ cd refcnt
+$ mkdir build
+$ cd build
+$ cmake -DCMAKE_PREFIX_PATH=${INSTALL_PREFIX} -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=${INSTALL_PREFIX} ..
+$ make
+$ make install
+```
+
+alternatively,  if you're a nix user:
+```
+$ git clone git@github.com:rconybea/xo-nix.git
+$ ls -d xo-nix
+xo-nix
+$ cd xo-nix
+$ nix-build -A refcnt
+```
+
+## Examples
+
+### 1
+```
+#include "refcnt/Refcounted.hpp"
+
+using xo::ref::Refcounted;
+
+struct MyObject : public Refcounted {
+     static rp<MyObject> make() { return new MyObject(); }
+
+private:
+     // intrusively-reference-counted objects should only be heap-allocated
+     MyObject() { ... }
+};
+
+int main() {
+     // create reference-counted instance
+     auto x = MyObject::make();
+     auto y = x;
+     // x,y refer to the same instance.
+     x = nullptr;
+     // y holds last reference
+     y = nullptr;
+     // MyObject has been deleted
+}
+```
+
+### 2
+
+To log reference-counting activity
+
+```
+xo::ref::intrusive_ptr_set_debug(true);
+```