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+# ndnserve
+
+**ndnserve** is a producer program that reads a file from the standard input, and makes it
+available as a set of NDN Data segments. It appends version and segment number components
+to the specified name as needed, according to the [NDN naming conventions](
+https://named-data.net/publications/techreports/ndn-tr-22-3-ndn-memo-naming-conventions/).
+
+Files published by ndnserve can be fetched with [ndnget](../get/README.md).
+
+## Usage examples
+
+The following command will publish the text of the GPL-3 license under the `/localhost/demo/gpl3`
+prefix:
+
+    ndnserve /localhost/demo/gpl3 < /usr/share/common-licenses/GPL-3
+
+To find the published version you have to start ndnserve with the `-p` command line option,
+for example:
+
+    ndnserve -p /localhost/demo/gpl3 < /usr/share/common-licenses/GPL-3
+
+This command will print the published version to standard output.
+
+To publish Data with a specific version, you need to append a version component to the end of the
+prefix. The version component must follow the aforementioned NDN naming conventions. For example,
+the following command will publish the version 1449078495094 of the `/localhost/demo/gpl3` prefix:
+
+    ndnserve -Nt /localhost/demo/gpl3/v=1449078495094 < /usr/share/common-licenses/GPL-3
+
+If the specified version component is not valid, ndnserve will exit with an error. If no version
+component is specified, one will be generated and appended to the name.