--- /dev/null
+`/mit/__init__.py` contains some useful functionality for Django applications
+running at MIT, particularly on the scripts.mit.edu platform
+
+- `zephyr(msg, clas, instance, rcpt)` sends a zephyr (by shelling out to
+ zwrite). This may be useful for debugging or logging
+- `ScriptsRemoteUserMiddleware` and `ScriptsRemoteUserBackend` work together to
+ auto-create users from certificates on scripts.mit.edu-hosted sites. Account
+ details are automatically retrieved from LDAP.
+- `scripts_login` is a view that tries to log users into a site using certs.
+
+To use them, you'll probably want to symlink or copy the `mit` directory into
+your project, add it to your apps list, and modify your middlewares and auth
+backend appropriately. Do *not* link this (the `django` directory) into your
+app; it's reasonably likely to break your `import django.foo` statements.
+
+This code is descended from work on
+[Remit](https://remit.scripts.mit.edu/trac/) and the [ASA
+DB](https://asa.scripts.mit.edu/trac/); current and past bugs are likely to be
+filed there.
+
+Using certificate authentication
+--------------------------------
+
+1. Copy the `mit` directory into your project
+2. Update settings.py
+ - Add `mit.ScriptsRemoteUserMiddleware` to the end of `MIDDLEWARE_CLASSES`
+ - Add `mit.ScriptsRemoteUserBackend` to the beginning of
+ `AUTHENTICATION_BACKENDS`
+3. Add `url(r'^accounts/login/', 'mit.scripts_login', name='login', )` to
+ your `urls.py`. This causes `@login_required` and similar mechanisms to
+ automatically redirect users to port 444 and log them in with certificates.
+