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+.. -*- mode: rst -*-
+
+.. _introduction-index:
+
+Introduction
+============
+
+Bcfg2 helps system administrators produce a consistent, reproducible,
+and verifiable description of their environment, and offers
+visualization and reporting tools to aid in day-to-day administrative
+tasks. It is the fifth generation of configuration management tools
+developed in the `Mathematics and Computer Science Division`_ of
+`Argonne National Laboratory`_.
+
+.. _Mathematics and Computer Science Division: http://www.mcs.anl.gov/
+.. _Argonne National Laboratory: http://www.anl.gov/
+
+It is based on an operational model in which the specification can be
+used to validate and optionally change the state of clients, but in a
+feature unique to Bcfg2 the client's response to the specification can
+also be used to assess the completeness of the specification. Using
+this feature, Bcfg2 provides an objective measure of how good a job an
+administrator has done in specifying the configuration of client
+systems. Bcfg2 is therefore built to help administrators construct an
+accurate, comprehensive specification.
+
+Bcfg2 has been designed from the ground up to support gentle
+reconciliation between the specification and current client states. It
+is designed to gracefully cope with manual system modifications.
+
+Finally, due to the rapid pace of updates on modern networks, client
+systems are constantly changing; if required in your environment,
+Bcfg2 can enable the construction of complex change management and
+deployment strategies.
+
+
+.. toctree::
+ :maxdepth: 2
+
+ architecture-overview
+ os-support