--- a/README.Linux
+++ b/README.Linux
@@ -1,3 +1,10 @@
+NOTE: This file was originally written several years ago, when many
+people were complaining that Octave would not work for them on Linux
+systems.  Generally, the problems were not actually bugs in Octave.
+More recently, the compilers are better, most distributions are more
+complete, and it seems harder to install incompatible sets of
+libraries or header files (but some people still manage to do it).
+
 Since July 1996, most work on Octave has been done using a Linux
 system, and a number of people who regularly test Octave snapshot
 releases also primarily use Linux systems.  Because of this, I believe
@@ -7,12 +14,11 @@
 problems have happened because of a botched upgrade or even a buggy
 Linux distribution.
 
-If you can, you should probably install Octave from one of the binary
-distributions available from ftp.che.wisc.edu, or using one of the
-Debian or RPM packages that are available at other sites.  For
-example, Dirk Eddelbuettel <edd@debian.org> maintains the Debian
-Octave package and usually has them ready within a day or so of new
-Octave releases.  They are available via the WWW at
+If you can, you should probably install Octave using one of the Debian
+or RPM packages for Octave that are available with the major Linux
+distributions.  For example, Dirk Eddelbuettel <edd@debian.org>
+maintains the Debian Octave package and usually has them ready within
+a day or so of new Octave releases.  They are available via the WWW at
 http://www.debian.org/packages.html.
 
 If for some reason you can't (or choose not to) install Octave from
@@ -24,9 +30,10 @@
 ---------------------------------
 
 If you can compile Octave, but it crashes with a segmentation fault
-right away, you probably have incompatible versions of libc and libg++
-installed, or you have a version of the dynamic loader, ld.so, that is
-incompatible with your versions of the libraries, or both.
+right away, you probably have incompatible versions of libc and
+libstdc++ installed, or you have a version of the dynamic loader,
+ld.so, that is incompatible with your versions of the libraries, or
+both.
 
 Octave won't even compile
 -------------------------
@@ -42,7 +49,7 @@
 int main (void) { cerr << "yo\n"; return 0; }
 
 bash$ g++ -v foo.cc
-gcc -v foo.cc -lg++ -lstdc++ -lm
+gcc -v foo.cc -lstdc++ -lm
 Reading specs from /usr/lib/gcc-lib/i486-linux/2.7.2/specs
 gcc version 2.7.2
  /usr/lib/gcc-lib/i486-linux/2.7.2/cpp -lang-c++ -v -undef ...
@@ -58,78 +65,9 @@
 
 If the location of the correct set of include files is not listed in
 the search path, then you might be able to fix that with a symbolic
-link.  However, if your version of libg++ was not compiled with your
+link.  However, if your version of libstdc++ was not compiled with your
 current version of gcc, you are likely to run into more trouble.
 
-The linker can't find -lieee
-----------------------------
-
-This can happen because your libraries don't match your version of
-gcc.  Some recent Linux distributions don't include a libieee.a file
-because IEEE support is now the default and the library is no longer
-needed, but the gcc specs file still adds -lieee to the linker command
-if gcc is invoked with the -mieeefp flag.  I believe that you should
-be able to fix this by editing the gcc specs file.  In it, you should
-find something like this:
-
-  %{!shared: %{mieee-fp:-lieee} %{p:-lgmon} %{pg:-lgmon} \
-  %{!ggdb:-lc} %{ggdb:-lg}}
-
-changing it to
-
-  %{!shared: %{p:-lgmon} %{pg:-lgmon} %{!ggdb:-lc} %{ggdb:-lg}}
-
-should keep gcc from adding -lieee to the link command.  You can find
-the location of the specs file by running the command gcc -v.
-
-If you can't edit the gcc specs file for some reason, another solution
-that should work is to create an empty libieee.a file in the Octave
-src directory using the command:
-
-  ar cq libieee.a
-
-NOTE: you should fix this problem (either by editing the specs file or
-by creating the library) *before* running configure and compiling
-Octave.  Otherwise, configure may incorrectly determine that your
-system doesn't have support for some IEEE math functions.
-
-My system doesn't have g77
---------------------------
-
-A binary release of g77 that should work with gcc 2.7.2 is available
-from sunsite.unc.edu in the directory /pub/Linux/devel/lang/fortran.
-There is also a Debian package for g77.  Also, g77 is now included as
-part of egcs (http://www.cygnus.com/egcs).
-
-Problems with g77 on Debian 1.2 systems (and possibly others)
--------------------------------------------------------------
-
-Your best bet is to upgrade to Debian 1.3 (or some newer version).
-If you choose not to do that, here are some old tips for working
-around the problem.
-
-The location of the compiler binaries changed, so the g77 0.5.18
-package can not be used without modification.  The problem is that the
-Debian package was built for gcc 2.7.2 and not 2.7.2.1 and the f771
-backend is installed in the wrong directory.
-
-Version 0.5.19 of g77 has just been released.  A fixed Debian package
-may be made available soon.  Until then, you can make things work by
-copying f771 and libf2c.a from /usr/lib/gcc-lib/i486-linux/2.7.2 to
-/usr/lib/gcc-lib/i486-linux/2.7.2.1.
-
-Upgrading your compiler and libraries
--------------------------------------
-
-Installing libg++ on a Linux system is not as simple as it should be,
-because libg++ shares some basic I/O code with the Linux C library,
-and they must be compatible.  You should get and read the release
-notes for the compiler and libraries.
-
-If you decide to install versions of the libraries that are older (or
-newer) than the ones you already have, you should follow the
-directions in the release notes carefully.
-
 I/O in dynamically loaded .oct files doesn't work
 -------------------------------------------------
 
@@ -147,4 +85,4 @@
 University of Wisconsin-Madison
 Department of Chemical Engineering
 
-Tue Feb  3 13:08:02 1998
+Fri Feb 11 23:29:54 2000