First draft.

README.md

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+[![License (3-Clause BSD)](https://img.shields.io/badge/license-BSD%203--Clause-blue.svg?style=flat-square)](http://opensource.org/licenses/BSD-3-Clause) [![CircleCI](https://circleci.com/gh/ethauvin/semver-gradle/tree/master.svg?style=shield)](https://circleci.com/gh/ethauvin/semver-gradle/tree/master)
+
+A [Semantic Version](https://semver.org) Plugin for [Gradle](https://gradle.org) that manages a project version via a properties file, and provide tasks to automatically increase major, minor and patch build numbers.
+
+## Using the plugin
+
+The plugin is published to the Plugin Portal; see instructions there: [net.thauvin.erik.gradle.semver](https://plugins.gradle.org/plugin/net.thauvin.erik.gradle.semver)
+
+## Version Properties File
+
+By default, a `version.properties` file will be created when Gradle is run:
+
+```ini
+#version.properties
+version.major=1
+version.minor=0
+version.patch=0
+version.preRelease=
+version.buildMeta=
+```
+
+To change the version of your project, remove the version from your `build.gradle` and simply edit your the version properties file to match your version number.
+
+If you need to change some of the property file or name of the properties key to match your own build environment. Please see the [Configuration](#configuration) section.
+
+## Increment Version Tasks
+
+The `incrementMajor`, `incrementMinor` and `incrementPatch` are available to automatically increment their respective and reset lower counterpart version numbers.
+
+- `incrementMajor` will increment the `major` and set the `minor` and `patch` versions to `0`.
+- `incrementMinor` will increment the `minor` and set the path version to `0`.
+
+#### Examples
+
+```sh
+./gradlew incrementPatch ...
+```
+
+or in your `gradle.build` file:
+
+```gradle
+someTask {
+    dependsOn(incrementPatch)
+    ...
+}
+```
+
+## Configuration
+
+### Version Properties
+
+The following default properties are recognized:
+
+Property                   | Description                 | Default
+:--------------------------|:----------------------------|:---
+`version.major`            | The major version.          | `1`
+`version.minor`            | The minor version.          | `0`
+`version.patch`            | The patch version.          | `0`
+`version.preRelease`       | The pre-release version     |
+`version.buildMeta `       | The build metatdata version |
+`version.preReleasePrefix` | The pre-release prefix      | `-`
+`version.buildMetaPrefix ` | The build metadata prefix   | `+`
+
+### Semver Task
+
+The `semver` task is used to configure how the plugin will read/write the version properties file. It most cases it is not needed.
+
+But, for example, if you wanted to save the version properties in a different file:
+
+```gradle
+semver {
+    properties = "my.version" // read and save properties in "my.version"
+}
+```
+
+or using different property keys for the version data:
+
+```gradle
+semver {
+    majorKey = "major" // instead of the default version.major
+    minorKey = "minor"
+    patchKey = "patch"
+    preReleaseKey = "release"
+    buildMetaKey = "metadata"
+}
+```
+which would match the data in `my.version`:
+
+```ini
+#my.version
+major=1
+minor=0
+patch=0
+release=beta
+metadata=
+```
+
+The following task properties are available:
+
+Properties            | Description                             | Default
+:---------------------|:----------------------------------------|:-------------------------
+`properties`          | The properties file.                    | `version.properties`
+`majorKey`            | The major property key.                 | `version.major`
+`minorKey`            | The minor property key.                 | `version.minor`
+`patchKey`            | The patch property key.                 | `version.patch`
+`preReleaseKey`       | The pre-release property key.           | `version.preRelease`
+`preReleasePrefixKey` | The build pre-release prefix key.       | `version.preReleasePrefix`
+`buildMetaKey`        | The build metadata property key.        | `version.buildMeta`
+`buildMetaPrefixKey`  | The build metadata prefix property key. | `version.buildMetaPrefix`
+`separatorKey`        | The separator property key.             | `version.separator`