diff --git a/binutils/README b/binutils/README
index 5120503b80f..82ebd5e774c 100644
--- a/binutils/README
+++ b/binutils/README
@@ -2,12 +2,12 @@
 
 These are the GNU binutils.  These are utilities of use when dealing
 with binary files, either object files or executables.  These tools
-consist of the linker (ld), the assembler (gas), and the profiler
-(gprof) each of which have their own sub-directory named after them.
-There is also a collection of other binary tools, including the
-disassembler (objdump) in this directory.  These tools make use of a
-pair of libraries (bfd and opcodes) and a common set of header files
-(include).
+consist of the linkers (ld and gold), the assembler (gas), and the
+profiler (gprof and gprofng) each of which have their own
+sub-directory named after them.  There is also a collection of other
+binary tools, including the disassembler (objdump) in this directory.
+These tools make use of a pair of libraries (bfd and opcodes) and a
+common set of header files (include).
 
 There are README and NEWS files in most of the program sub-directories
 which give more information about those specific programs.
@@ -44,6 +44,20 @@ You can just do:
 This will configure and build all the libraries as well as the
 assembler, the binutils, and the linker.
 
+Note - if you have obtained the sources by checking out a copy from
+the git repository then you will have both the binutils and GDB
+sources in one place.  In this case you may wish to add an option to
+the configure command line to stop it from configuring GDB.  This will
+also stop the configure script from checking the libraries that are
+needed by GDB, but not by the binutils.
+
+	./configure --disable-gdb 
+
+Since the configure script can be quite verbose, you may also
+want to add the --quiet option to reduce the amount of output. ie:
+
+	./configure --quiet
+
 If you have GNU make, we recommend building in a different directory:
 
 	mkdir objdir