Rewrite README.md sentence by sentence for a newcomer

The old README was a specification written as one dense document:
sentences past 30 words, lists chained with commas, exceptions ahead
of the rules, and release history in the user text. This rewrite
starts from what the program is, what it is for and how to use it,
then gives a reference for the settings, each subcommand, the
database, the output formats, the progress display and the exit
codes, and ends with development and testing. Every statement was
checked against the code on next and against what the built binary
prints on a small tree. The section names the code comments cite are
kept. TODO.md records the step.

Model: fable-5-1

TODO.md

@@ -29,6 +29,12 @@
 
 # Completed Steps
 
+- `README.md` rewritten from scratch, sentence by sentence, as a newcomer reads
+  it. It leads with what the program is and how to use it. A reference section
+  covers the settings, the database, the output formats and the exit codes;
+  development and testing come last. Every statement was checked against the
+  code on `next` (2026-10-26, https://git.eeqj.de/sneak/sfdupes/issues/135)
+
 - a file or directory removed while the scan runs is not an error, in the walk
   or in the hash phase. The scan prints no line for it and does not count it as
   skipped. When the first of several hard links to a file is gone, the hash