setup: extract long description from README; update README from paper abstract

README

-kwant is a Python package for numerical quantum transport calculations.  It
-aims to be an user-friendly, powerful and efficient toolbox for the simulation
-of physical systems (of any dimensionality) that can be described by a
-tight-binding model.  It offers direct support for calculations of Landauer
-transport (conductance, noise), dispersion relations, modes, wave functions,
-various Green's functions, and local density of states.  Being extensible and
-modular, kwant has been designed to be useful for other computations involving
-tight-binding Hamiltonians as well.
+Kwant is a Python package for numerical quantum transport calculations. It aims
+to be an user-friendly, universal, and high-performance toolbox for the
+simulation of physical systems of any dimensionality and geometry that can be
+described by a tight-binding model. Kwant has been designed such that the
+natural concepts of the theory of quantum transport (lattices, symmetries,
+electrodes, orbital/spin/electron-hole degrees of freedom) are exposed in a
+simple and transparent way: Defining a new simulation setup is very close to
+describing the corresponding mathematical model. Kwant offers direct support for
+calculations of transport properties (conductance, noise, scattering matrix),
+dispersion relations, modes, wave functions, various Green’s functions, and
+out-of-equilibrium local quantities (charge or current densities). Other
+computations involving tight-binding Hamiltonians can be implemented easily
+thanks to its extensible and modular nature.
 
 See also the files INSTALL, LICENSE, AUTHORS, and ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS in this
 directory.

doc/source/index.rst

@@ -7,9 +7,9 @@ kwant documentation
 
 Researchers, please note that even though :doc:`kwant is Free Software
 <license>`, scientific integrity requires to give appropriate credit.  If you
-write a scientific paper whose results have been obtained thanks to kwant,
-please :doc:`acknowledge <acknowledgements>` the work of the :doc:`people that
-have made it possible <authors>`.
+write a scientific paper whose results have been obtained with the help of
+kwant, please :doc:`acknowledge <acknowledgements>` the work of the :doc:`people
+that have developed it <authors>`.
 
 .. toctree::
    :maxdepth: 1

setup.py

@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@
 # http://kwant-project.org/authors.
 
 CONFIG_FILE = 'build.conf'
+README_FILE = 'README'
 STATIC_VERSION_FILE = 'kwant/_static_version.py'
 REQUIRED_CYTHON_VERSION = (0, 17, 1)
 MUMPS_DEBIAN_PACKAGE = 'libmumps-scotch-dev'
@@ -217,6 +218,19 @@ def version():
     return version
 
 
+def long_description():
+    text = []
+    try:
+        with open(README_FILE) as f:
+            for line in f:
+                if line == "\n":
+                    break
+                text.append(line.rstrip())
+    except:
+        return ''
+    return '\n'.join(text)
+
+
 def packages():
     return [root.replace('/', '.')
             for root, dnames, fnames in os.walk('kwant')
@@ -387,8 +401,9 @@ def main():
           version=version(),
           author='kwant authors',
           author_email='christoph.groth@cea.fr',
-          description="A package for numerical "
-          "quantum transport calculations.",
+          description="A package for numerical quantum transport calculations.",
+          long_description=long_description(),
+          platforms=["Unix", "Linux", "Mac OS-X", "Windows"],
           url="http://kwant-project.org/",
           license="BSD",
           packages=packages(),