diff --git a/.github/README.md b/.github/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..2384ecb8b9c0de52e702b306098b3e3260107d12
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,144 @@
+# NORNS
+[![License: MIT](https://img.shields.io/badge/License-MIT-blue.svg)](https://opensource.org/licenses/MIT)
+[![Build Status](https://travis-ci.com/bsc-ssrg/NORNS.svg?branch=master)](https://travis-ci.com/bsc-ssrg/NORNS)
+[![Coverage Status](https://codecov.io/gh/bsc-ssrg/NORNS/branch/master/graph/badge.svg)](https://codecov.io/gh/bsc-ssrg/NORNS)
+
+NORNS is an open-source data scheduling service that orchestrates asynchronous
+data transfers between different storage backends in an HPC cluster. Through
+its API, NORNS provides three different functions. First, it allows system
+administrators to expose the storage architecture of an HPC cluster by creating
+**dataspaces** associated to different storage backends such as node-local NVMs 
+and POSIX file systems, or system-wide parallel file systems and object stores, 
+thus making them available to applications, services, and users. 
+Second, it provides a framework for submitting and monitoring the asynchronous
+transfers of **data resources** between the (local and remote) dataspaces
+available to a user, such as process buffers, POSIX files and directories or
+objects. Third, it arbitrates requests by managing a queue of pending work and
+evaluating requests to maximize dataspace throughput while minimizing the 
+interferences with normal application I/O.
+
+NORNS has currently been tested only under GNU/Linux.
+
+## Building and installing from source
+
+Distribution tarballs are available from the
+[releases](https://github.com/bsc-ssrg/NORNS/releases) tab. If you are building
+NORNS from a developer Git clone, you must first run the `bootstrap.sh` script,
+which will invoke the GNU Autotools to bootstrap NORNS' configuration and build
+mechanisms. If you are building NORNS from an official distribiution tarball,
+there is no need to run the `bootstrap.sh` script, since all distribution
+tarballs are already boostrapped.
+
+### Dependencies
+
+Compiling and running NORNS requires up-to-date versions of the following
+software packages (note that, though it may compile and run, using excessively
+old versions of these packages can cause indirect errors that are very
+difficult to track down):
+
+- A standard **C++11** conforming compiler (the code is routinely tested
+  against GCC 4.9/Clang 3.3 and higher).
+- Autotools (autoconf 2.69 or higher, automake 1.14.1 or higher, and libtool
+  2.4.2 or higher) and CMake (3.10.0 or higher).
+- The following Boost libraries (1.53 or higher): `system`, `filesystem`,
+  `program_options`, and `thread`. Optionally, the `regex` library may also be
+  required if self tests are enabled with the `--enable-tests` option.
+- Google's Protocol Buffers for [C](https://github.com/protobuf-c/protobuf-c)
+  (1.0.2 or higher) and for [C++](https://github.com/protocolbuffers/protobuf)
+  (2.5.0 or higher).
+- [LibYAML](https://github.com/yaml/libyaml) (0.1.4 or higher) and
+  [yaml-cpp](https://github.com/jbeder/yaml-cpp) (0.5.1 or higher).
+- [Mercury](https://github.com/mercury-hpc/mercury) 1.0 or higher 
+  (**IMPORTANT** Mercury may require additional dependencies such as libfabric 
+  depending on the desired transport protocol).
+- [Hermes](https://github.com/bsc-ssrg/hermes) (our own C++ wrapper for
+  Mercury. It should be automatically downloaded when cloning with the
+  `--recursive` option).
+- [libarchive](https://github.com/libarchive/libarchive) (3.1.2 or higher).
+
+#### Installation in CentOS
+
+```bash
+# Installing dependencies available through package manager
+$ yum install -y boost-devel protobuf protobuf-devel protobuf-c protobuf-c-devel \
+                 yaml-cpp yaml-cpp-devel libyaml-devel libarchive
+
+# Building and installing libfabric (required for Mercury's OFI/libfabric plugin)
+$ git clone https://github.com/ofiwg/libfabric.git && cd libfabric
+$ ./autogen.sh
+$ mkdir build && cd build 
+$ ../configure && make && make install
+
+# Building and installing Mercury with OFI/libfabric plugin
+$ git clone https://github.com/mercury-hpc/mercury.git && cd mercury
+$ mkdir build && cd build
+$ cmake -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE:STRING=Debug -DBUILD_TESTING:BOOL=OFF \
+        -DMERCURY_USE_SM_ROUTING:BOOL=OFF -DMERCURY_USE_SELF_FORWARD:BOOL=OFF \
+        -DMERCURY_USE_CHECKSUMS:BOOL=OFF -DMERCURY_USE_BOOST_PP:BOOL=ON \
+        -DMERCURY_USE_EAGER_BULK:BOOL=ON -DBUILD_SHARED_LIBS:BOOL=ON \
+        -DNA_USE_OFI:BOOL=ON \
+        ..
+$ make && make install
+
+# Building, testing and installing NORNS under '/usr/local/', with configuration
+# files under '/etc/norns/' and temporary files under '/var/run/norns/'
+$ git clone --recursive https://github.com/bsc-ssrg/NORNS.git && cd norns
+$ ./bootstrap.sh
+$ mkdir build && cd build 
+$ ../configure \
+    --enable-tests \
+    --prefix=/usr/local \
+    --sysconfdir=/etc/norns \
+    --localstatedir=/var/run/norns
+$ make && make check && make install
+
+```
+
+#### Installation in Ubuntu
+
+```bash
+# Installing dependencies available through package manager
+$ apt-get install -y libboost-system-dev libboost-filesystem-dev \
+                     libboost-program-options-dev libboost-thread-dev \
+                     libboost-regex-dev libprotobuf-dev protobuf-compiler \
+                     libprotobuf-c-dev protobuf-c-compiler \
+                     libyaml-cpp-dev libyaml-dev libarchive-dev
+
+# Building and installing libfabric (required for Mercury's OFI/libfabric plugin)
+$ git clone https://github.com/ofiwg/libfabric.git && cd libfabric
+$ ./autogen.sh
+$ mkdir build && cd build 
+$ ../configure && make && make install
+
+# Building and installing Mercury with OFI/libfabric plugin
+$ git clone https://github.com/mercury-hpc/mercury.git && cd mercury
+$ mkdir build && cd build
+$ cmake -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE:STRING=Debug -DBUILD_TESTING:BOOL=OFF \
+        -DMERCURY_USE_SM_ROUTING:BOOL=OFF -DMERCURY_USE_SELF_FORWARD:BOOL=OFF \
+        -DMERCURY_USE_CHECKSUMS:BOOL=OFF -DMERCURY_USE_BOOST_PP:BOOL=ON \
+        -DMERCURY_USE_EAGER_BULK:BOOL=ON -DBUILD_SHARED_LIBS:BOOL=ON \
+        -DNA_USE_OFI:BOOL=ON \
+        ..
+$ make && make install
+
+# Building, testing and installing NORNS under '/usr/local/', with configuration
+# files under '/etc/norns/' and temporary files under '/var/run/norns/'
+$ git clone --recursive https://github.com/bsc-ssrg/NORNS.git && cd norns
+$ ./bootstrap.sh
+$ mkdir build && cd build 
+$ ../configure \
+    --enable-tests \
+    --prefix=/usr/local \
+    --sysconfdir=/etc/norns \
+    --localstatedir=/var/run/norns
+$ make && make check && make install
+```
+
+
+#### Configuration
+
+```bash
+# Optional: providing file system permission override capabilities to NORNS
+# control daemon
+$ setcap cap_sys_ptrace,cap_chown=+ep /usr/local/bin/urd
+```
diff --git a/.gitmodules b/.gitmodules
index f1ecde20ccf4b5df7bfa3fbb8c23e8d6e30f18eb..4f6f7d00da1468e7ca593e4f9873c8797480d4c3 100644
--- a/.gitmodules
+++ b/.gitmodules
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
 [submodule "src/externals/hermes"]
 	path = src/externals/hermes
-    url = ../hermes.git
+	url = https://github.com/bsc-ssrg/hermes.git
diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..0780be5b76e78afd774d8a54c4b3a5914e9ad4e8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,120 @@
+dist: xenial
+sudo: true
+language: 
+  - cpp
+
+env:
+  global:
+    - CXXFLAGS="-ggdb3 -O0 --coverage" 
+    - CFLAGS="-ggdb3 -O0 --coverage" 
+    - LDFLAGS="--coverage"
+    - NORNS_DEBUG_CONFIG_FILE_OVERRIDE="1"
+
+matrix:
+  include:
+    - os : linux
+      addons:
+        apt:
+          sources:
+            - ubuntu-toolchain-r-test
+          packages:
+            # - g++-8
+            - libboost-system-dev 
+            - libboost-filesystem-dev
+            - libboost-program-options-dev
+            - libboost-thread-dev
+            - libboost-regex-dev
+            - libprotobuf-dev
+            - protobuf-compiler
+            - libprotobuf-c-dev
+            - protobuf-c-compiler
+            - libyaml-cpp-dev 
+            - libyaml-dev 
+            - libarchive-dev
+            - lcov
+
+branches:
+  only:
+    - master
+
+before_install:
+  - env |sort
+  - |
+    (
+      set -Eeuo pipefail
+      set -x
+      # if [[ "$CC" == "gcc" && `command -v gcc-8` ]]; then export CC=gcc-8; export CXX=g++-8; export AR=gcc-ar-8; export NM=gcc-nm-8; export RANLIB=gcc-ranlib-8; GCOV=`which gcov-8`; sudo ln -sf $GCOV /usr/bin/gcov; fi
+      $CC --version
+      gcov --version
+    )
+
+before_script:
+  - |
+    (
+      pushd .
+      git clone https://github.com/ofiwg/libfabric.git
+      cd libfabric
+      ./autogen.sh
+      mkdir build
+      cd build 
+      ../configure
+      make -j 2
+      sudo make install
+      popd
+      sudo ldconfig
+    )
+  - |
+    (
+      set -Eeuo pipefail
+      set -x
+      pushd .
+      git clone https://github.com/mercury-hpc/mercury.git 
+      cd mercury
+      mkdir build
+      cd build
+      cmake \
+        -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE:STRING=Release \
+        -DBUILD_TESTING:BOOL=OFF \
+        -DMERCURY_USE_SM_ROUTING:BOOL=OFF \
+        -DMERCURY_USE_SELF_FORWARD:BOOL=OFF \
+        -DMERCURY_USE_CHECKSUMS:BOOL=OFF \
+        -DMERCURY_USE_BOOST_PP:BOOL=ON \
+        -DMERCURY_USE_EAGER_BULK:BOOL=ON \
+        -DBUILD_SHARED_LIBS:BOOL=ON \
+        -DNA_USE_OFI:BOOL=ON \
+      ..
+      make -j2
+      sudo make install
+      popd
+      sudo ldconfig
+    )
+
+script:
+  - |
+    (
+      set -Eeuo pipefail
+      set -x
+      ./bootstrap.sh
+      mkdir build
+      cd build
+      ../configure --enable-tests #CC=/usr/bin/gcc-8 CXX=/usr/bin/g++-8
+      make -j2
+      cd tests
+      make -j2 core
+      make -j2 api
+      ./core
+      sudo setcap cap_sys_ptrace,cap_chown=+ep ./api
+      ./api
+    )
+
+after_success:
+  - |
+    (
+      pwd
+      ls -l
+      pushd .
+      cd build
+      ../gencov.sh
+      bash <(curl -s https://codecov.io/bash) -f norns.info || echo "Codecov did not collect coverage reports"
+      popd
+    )
diff --git a/gencov.sh b/gencov.sh
index 7fde5a00f73fd560bd51a292f3b35a524574da49..d1ab976d8c74956128a865bc9bd4f6bca2d7bf8f 100755
--- a/gencov.sh
+++ b/gencov.sh
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ GIT_ROOTDIR=`git rev-parse --show-toplevel`
 LCOV=`which lcov`
 
 ${LCOV} \
-    `find ${GIT_ROOTDIR} -name "*.gcda" 2>/dev/null | xargs -I{} dirname {} | uniq | xargs -I {} echo -n " --directory "{}` \
+    `find ${GIT_ROOTDIR} -not \( -path *mercury* -prune \) -not \( -path *libfabric* -prune \) -and -name "*.gcda" 2>/dev/null | xargs -I{} dirname {} | uniq | xargs -I {} echo -n " --directory "{}` \
     --capture \
     --output-file gcov.info
 
@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@ ${LCOV} \
         '/usr/local/include/*' \
         '*/externals/*' \
         '*/spdlog/*' \
-        '*/build/*' \
+        '$PWD/build/*' \
         '*/tests/*' \
     -o norns.info
 
diff --git a/src/externals/hermes b/src/externals/hermes
index 43280bd68daacebcd303061694ed083277dbd016..9779ad922b3e1a0e657516294721a5386f52d89d 160000
--- a/src/externals/hermes
+++ b/src/externals/hermes
@@ -1 +1 @@
-Subproject commit 43280bd68daacebcd303061694ed083277dbd016
+Subproject commit 9779ad922b3e1a0e657516294721a5386f52d89d