diff --git a/waterbox/readme.txt b/waterbox/readme.txt
index 27adcd12d3..adaa44b97a 100644
--- a/waterbox/readme.txt
+++ b/waterbox/readme.txt
@@ -25,13 +25,14 @@ It consists of a modified musl libc, and build scripts to tie it all together.
 2. Clone bizhawk sources
 	* Make sure git's core.autocrlf is set to false, as the alternatives cause git to modify the line endings in .sh-looking files which WILL break the build process, from the very first step.
 	* This is NOT git's default. You will need to change it!! Go ahead and set it false globally permanently, since do you really want git modifying files?
-	* Make sure you have updated the needed submodules in the waterbox directory (for example, /waterbox/llvm-project and /waterbox/musl, etc.)
+	* Make sure you have initialized and updated the needed submodules in the waterbox directory (for example, /waterbox/llvm-project and /waterbox/musl, etc.)
 
-3. Build libraries.
+3. Consider whether it is time to update your build environment (i.e. sudo apt-get upgrade). We are not prescribing versions for build environment tools (gcc, etc.) so you may as well upgrade everything to the latest if you're making builds for other people.
+
+4. Build libraries.
 	cd musl
 	./configure-for-waterbox
-	make
-	make install
+	make -j install
 	cd ../emulibc
 	make
 	cd ../libco
@@ -40,10 +41,12 @@ It consists of a modified musl libc, and build scripts to tie it all together.
 	./do-everything.sh
 	cd ..
 
-4. Some additional preparation is required before all the cores can be built:
+5. If errors happen in the libcxx part, it can be due to musl mismatching your current build environment. This happens when your build environment is updated; musl does not track its build dependencies correctly. do `make clean` on musl (and delete the non-checkedin directories just to be safe) and try again from the musl step.
+
+6. Some additional preparation is required before all the cores can be built:
 	cd nyma && ./build-and-install-zlib.sh
 
-5. You are now ready to start building cores. Each supports `make` and `make install`, as well as `make debug` and `make install-debug` for local development.  From the root directory, the following should all be valid:
+7. You are now ready to start building cores. Each supports `make` and `make install`, as well as `make debug` and `make install-debug` for local development.  From the root directory, the following should all be valid:
 	cd gpgx && make install
 	cd libsnes && make install
 	cd nyma && make -f faust.mak install