From 8f2f2ab9ae5fdb256b9a7925d892ff04cc0f3e7d Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Thijs <thivan-d@student.codam.nl>
Date: Tue, 9 Jun 2026 21:27:41 +0200
Subject: [PATCH] docs: add requirements, updating, and uninstalling sections

The README covered install + usage but omitted prerequisites, update
management, and removal. Round out the installation/usage guide:

- Requirements: Linux host, bash, Podman (towel calls podman directly and
  the bundled distrobox config uses container_manager="podman"), curl, and
  the auto-installed Distrobox.
- Updating towel: document the daily auto-check, manual --check/--apply, and
  how to disable it (--no-auto-check / TOWEL_NO_UPDATE_CHECK).
- Uninstalling: towel remove plus the exact files the installer created,
  with a caveat about the shared distrobox/containers configs.

Closes #3
---
 README.md | 47 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 1 file changed, 47 insertions(+)

diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 9641f69..7e8b4fe 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -12,6 +12,22 @@ Towel installs a `towel` command and a predefined Distrobox container config for
 - installing packages with `dnf` inside the container,
 - exporting app launchers/binaries back to the host via managed wrappers.
 
+## Requirements
+
+Towel runs on a Linux host (including WSL2) and uses **rootless [Podman](https://podman.io/)** as its container engine. You need:
+
+- **bash**
+- **[Podman](https://podman.io/)** — towel manages the container through it directly, and the bundled Distrobox config sets `container_manager="podman"`
+- **curl** — used by the installer to download Distrobox
+- **[Distrobox](https://distrobox.it/)** — installed automatically by `./install` if it isn't already present (pinned version, checksum-verified)
+
+Install Podman with your distribution's package manager, for example:
+
+```bash
+sudo dnf install -y podman        # Fedora
+sudo apt-get install -y podman    # Debian/Ubuntu
+```
+
 ## Quick start
 
 ### 1) Install towel
@@ -66,6 +82,24 @@ towel update --check  # check for updates
 towel update --apply  # install latest release
 ```
 
+## Updating towel
+
+Towel checks for a new release automatically (at most once per day) and prints a notice when one is available. You can also check or update on demand:
+
+```bash
+towel update --check   # report whether a newer release exists (exit 10 if so)
+towel update --apply   # download, verify the checksum, and install the latest release
+```
+
+To turn the automatic check off (or back on):
+
+```bash
+towel update --no-auto-check   # disable the daily check
+towel update --auto-check      # re-enable it
+```
+
+Setting `TOWEL_NO_UPDATE_CHECK=1` in your environment also disables the automatic check.
+
 ## How export works
 
 Exported integrations are managed by towel and placed under:
@@ -106,6 +140,19 @@ Apps that require behavior outside towel’s export/runtime model, for example:
 
 These can still run manually in some cases, but won’t be reliably auto-exported by `towel export`.
 
+## Uninstalling
+
+```bash
+towel remove          # remove the container and any exported app wrappers
+rm -f  ~/.local/bin/towel
+rm -rf ~/.local/share/towel
+rm -f  ~/.config/distrobox/towel.ini
+```
+
+The installer also copied `~/.config/distrobox/distrobox.conf` and `~/.config/containers/storage.conf` (backing up any pre-existing versions with a `.bak.*` suffix). These are shared Distrobox/Podman settings — only remove them if you don't use Distrobox for anything else, and restore your backup if you had one.
+
+If the installer added a `~/.local/bin` PATH line to your `~/.bashrc` or `~/.zshrc`, you can remove that too.
+
 ## Notes
 
 - `towel remove` is destructive and unexports managed wrappers first.