DOC-3774

README.adoc

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+= DataStax Java Driver for Apache Cassandra®
+
+image::https://maven-badges.herokuapp.com/maven-central/com.datastax.oss/java-driver-core/badge.svg[Maven Central,link=https://maven-badges.herokuapp.com/maven-central/com.datastax.oss/java-driver-core]
+
+_If you're reading this on github.com, please note that this is the readme for the development  version and that some features described here might not yet have been released.
+You can find the documentation for latest version through http://docs.datastax.com/en/developer/java-driver/[DataStax Docs] or via the release tags, e.g.
+https://github.com/datastax/java-driver/tree/4.16.0[4.16.0]._
+
+A modern, feature-rich and highly tunable Java client library for http://cassandra.apache.org/[Apache Cassandra®] (2.1+) and  https://www.datastax.com/products/datastax-enterprise[DataStax Enterprise] (4.7+), and https://www.datastax.com/products/datastax-astra[DataStax Astra], using exclusively Cassandra's binary protocol and Cassandra Query Language (CQL) v3.
+
+== Getting the driver
+
+The driver artifacts are published in Maven central, under the group id http://search.maven.org/#search%7Cga%7C1%7Cg%3A%22com.datastax.oss%22[com.datastax.oss];
+there are multiple modules, all prefixed with `java-driver-`.
+
+[,xml]
+----
+<dependency>
+  <groupId>com.datastax.oss</groupId>
+  <artifactId>java-driver-core</artifactId>
+  <version>${driver.version}</version>
+</dependency>
+
+<dependency>
+  <groupId>com.datastax.oss</groupId>
+  <artifactId>java-driver-query-builder</artifactId>
+  <version>${driver.version}</version>
+</dependency>
+
+<dependency>
+  <groupId>com.datastax.oss</groupId>
+  <artifactId>java-driver-mapper-runtime</artifactId>
+  <version>${driver.version}</version>
+</dependency>
+----
+
+Note that the query builder is now published as a separate artifact, you'll need to add the dependency if you plan to use it.
+
+Refer to each module's manual for more details (link:manual/core/[core], link:manual/query_builder/[query builder], link:manual/mapper[mapper]).
+
+== Compatibility
+
+The driver is compatible with Apache Cassandra® 2.1 and higher, DataStax Enterprise 4.7 and higher, and DataStax Astra.
+
+It requires Java 8 or higher.
+
+Disclaimer: Some DataStax/DataStax Enterprise products might partially work on big-endian systems, but DataStax does not officially support these systems.
+
+== Connecting to DataStax Astra
+
+The driver comes with built-in support for Astra, DataStax's cloud-native Cassandra-as-a-service offering.
+See the dedicated link:manual/cloud/[manual page] for more details.
+
+== Migrating from previous versions
+
+Java driver 4 is *not binary compatible* with previous versions.
+However, most of the concepts remain unchanged, and the new API will look very familiar to 2.x and 3.x users.
+
+See the link:upgrade_guide/[upgrade guide] for details.
+
+== Error Handling
+
+See the https://www.datastax.com/blog/cassandra-error-handling-done-right[Cassandra error handling done right blog] for error handling with the DataStax Java Driver for Apache Cassandra&trade;.
+
+== Useful links
+
+* link:manual/[Manual]
+* https://docs.datastax.com/en/drivers/java/4.14[API docs]
+* Bug tracking: https://datastax-oss.atlassian.net/browse/JAVA[JIRA]
+* https://groups.google.com/a/lists.datastax.com/forum/#!forum/java-driver-user[Mailing list]
+* Twitter: https://twitter.com/dsJavaDriver[@dsJavaDriver] tweets Java driver releases and important announcements (low frequency).
+https://twitter.com/datastaxeng[@DataStaxEng] has more news, including other drivers, Cassandra, and DSE.
+* link:changelog/[Changelog]
+* link:faq/[FAQ]
+
+== License
+
+&copy;
+DataStax, Inc.
+
+Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+You may obtain a copy of the License at
+
+http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+
+Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+See the License for the specific language governing permissions and limitations under the License.
+
+'''
+
+DataStax is a registered trademark of DataStax, Inc.
+and its subsidiaries in the United States  and/or other countries.
+
+Apache Cassandra, Apache, Tomcat, Lucene, Solr, Hadoop, Spark, TinkerPop, and Cassandra are  trademarks of the http://www.apache.org/[Apache Software Foundation] or its subsidiaries in Canada, the United States and/or other countries.