diff --git a/HACKING b/HACKING
index fda589965..cfeaa15fe 100644
--- a/HACKING
+++ b/HACKING
@@ -82,12 +82,12 @@ The Guile sources live in several modules:
 
 There is a mailing list for CVS commit messages; see README for details.
 
-- We check Makefile.in and configure files into CVS, as well as the
-files they are built from (Makefile.am, configure.in); we do not check
-in Makefiles or header files generated by configuration scripts.  The
-general rule is that you should be able to check out a working
-directory of Guile from CVS, and then type "configure" and "make",
-without running any other tools.
+- We check Makefile.am and configure.in files into CVS, but the
+"autogen.sh" script must be run from the top-level to generate the
+actual "configure" script that then must be run to create the various
+Makefile-s to build guile. The general rule is that you should be able
+to check out a working directory of Guile from CVS, and then type
+"./autogen.sh", then "configure", and finally "make".
 
 - (Automake 1.4 only) Be sure to run automake at the top of the tree
 with no arguments.  Do not use `automake Makefile' to regenerate