-You should use at least CLN V1.0.2, since all earlier ones are
-somewhat buggy. Even V1.0.1 has a few problems and GiNaC will not
-support older versions. Please install it properly on your system
-before continuing with GiNaC.
+Problems with CLN
+-----------------
+
+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 with 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.