-=================
-
-You should use at least CLN V1.0.3, since during the development of
-GiNaC various bugs have been discovered and fixed in earlier versions.
-To protect you, the "configure" script checks for a feature that was
-added in V1.0.3 so it won't continue with earlier versions anyhow.
-Please install CLN properly on your system before continuing with
-GiNaC.
+-----------------
+
+You should use at least CLN-1.1, since during the development of GiNaC
+various bugs have been discovered and fixed in earlier versions. Please
+install CLN properly on your system before continuing with GiNaC.
+
+Problems building ginsh
+-----------------------
+
+The most common reason why this doesn't succeed is the absence of
+libreadline and/or the corresponding header files. Depending on what your
+system/distribution is, you will have to install a package called
+libreadline and maybe libreadline-dev. If your system's vendor doesn't
+supply such packages, go to <ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/readline/> and compile
+it yourself.
+
+Problems with missing standard header files
+-------------------------------------------
+
+Building GiNaC requires many standard header files. If you get a configure
+error complaining about such missing files your compiler and library are
+probably not up to date enough and it's no worth continuing.