diff --git a/README b/README
index d4b9620b..40e0f33a 100644
--- a/README
+++ b/README
@@ -8,6 +8,9 @@ Artistic License which may be found in the source distribution as
 "Artistic-2.0".  It is provided "as is" without express or implied
 warranty.
 
+Building on UNIX/Linux
+======================
+
 For UNIX and UNIX-like systems, you can usually get by with just
 
 ./configure
@@ -17,8 +20,32 @@ make install
 For more detailed general information, see the "INSTALL" file in this
 directory.
 
-For specific information about building qpdf on Windows, see
-"README.windows".
+Building on Windows
+===================
+
+QPDF is known to build and pass its test suite with mingw (gcc 4.4.0)
+and Microsoft Visual C++ .NET 2008 Express.  In both cases, cygwin is
+required to run the test suite.  Either cygwin or MSYS is required to
+build as well in order to get make and other related tools.  The MSVC
+build has only been tested under cygwin.  The mingw build requires
+MSYS and will probably not work with cygwin.
+
+For details on how to build under Windows, see README.windows.
+
+
+Additional Notes on Build
+=========================
+
+QPDF's build system, inspired by abuild (http://www.abuild.org), can
+optionally use its own built-in rules rather than using libtool and
+obeying the compiler specified with configure.  This can be enabled by
+passing --with-buildrules=buildrules where buildrules corresponds to
+one of the .mk files (other than rules.mk) in the make directory.
+This should never be necessary on a UNIX system, but may be necessary
+on a Windows system.  See README.windows for details.  There is a
+gcc-linux.mk file enable "gcc-linux" build rules, but it is intended
+to help test the build system; Linux users should build with the
+"libtools" rules, which are enabled by default.
 
 The QPDF package provides some executables and a software library.  A
 user's manual can be found in the "doc" directory.  The docbook
diff --git a/README.windows b/README.windows
index 4cf547b8..92431da2 100644
--- a/README.windows
+++ b/README.windows
@@ -21,9 +21,9 @@ If you have MSYS and Mingw installed, you can run configure as follows:
 To build with msvc, you must be running in a shell environment that
 puts the MSVC tools in your path.  Then you can run
 
-XXX WHAT?
+CC=cl CXX="cl /TP /GR" CPPFLAGS=-DHAVE_VSNPRINTF ./configure --disable-test-compare-images --enable-build-external-libs --with-buildrules=msvc
 
-./configure --disable-test-compare-images --enable-build-external-libs --with-buildrules=msvc
+This is tested with MSVC .NET 2008 Express.
 
 From there, run
 
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index d6523ff7..09670697 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -84,19 +84,30 @@ else
    AC_MSG_RESULT(no)
 fi
 
-qpdf_USE_WALL=0
-AC_MSG_CHECKING(for whether $CC supports -Wall)
-oCFLAGS=$CFLAGS
-CFLAGS="$CFLAGS -Wall"
-AC_TRY_COMPILE([], [int a = 1; int b = a; a = b;],
-	       qpdf_USE_WALL=1,
-	       qpdf_USE_WALL=0)
-if test "$qpdf_USE_WALL" = "1"; then
-   AC_MSG_RESULT(yes)
-   CXXFLAGS="$CXXFLAGS -Wall"
-else
-   AC_MSG_RESULT(no)
-   CFLAGS=$oCFLAGS
+AC_MSG_CHECKING(which build rules to use)
+AC_SUBST(BUILDRULES)
+AC_ARG_WITH(buildrules,
+   AS_HELP_STRING([--with-buildrules=rules],
+		  [which build rules to use; see README]),
+   [BUILDRULES=$withval],
+   [BUILDRULES=libtool])
+AC_MSG_RESULT($BUILDRULES)
+
+if test "$BUILDRULES" != "msvc"; then
+   qpdf_USE_WALL=0
+   AC_MSG_CHECKING(for whether $CC supports -Wall)
+   oCFLAGS=$CFLAGS
+   CFLAGS="$CFLAGS -Wall"
+   AC_TRY_COMPILE([], [int a = 1; int b = a; a = b;],
+		  qpdf_USE_WALL=1,
+		  qpdf_USE_WALL=0)
+   if test "$qpdf_USE_WALL" = "1"; then
+      AC_MSG_RESULT(yes)
+      CXXFLAGS="$CXXFLAGS -Wall"
+   else
+      AC_MSG_RESULT(no)
+      CFLAGS=$oCFLAGS
+   fi
 fi
 
 if test "$BUILD_EXTERNAL_LIBS" = "0"; then
@@ -118,15 +129,6 @@ if test "$BUILD_EXTERNAL_LIBS" = "0"; then
    fi
 fi
 
-AC_MSG_CHECKING(which build rules to use)
-AC_SUBST(BUILDRULES)
-AC_ARG_WITH(buildrules,
-   AS_HELP_STRING([--with-buildrules=rules],
-		  [which build rules to use; see README]),
-   [BUILDRULES=$withval],
-   [BUILDRULES=libtool])
-AC_MSG_RESULT($BUILDRULES)
-
 AC_SUBST(SKIP_TEST_COMPARE_IMAGES)
 AC_ARG_ENABLE(test-compare-images,
    AS_HELP_STRING([--enable-test-compare-images],
diff --git a/make/msvc.mk b/make/msvc.mk
index c5961c03..b60abc03 100644
--- a/make/msvc.mk
+++ b/make/msvc.mk
@@ -40,27 +40,26 @@ define makeslib
 	lib /nologo /OUT:$(2) $(1)
 endef
 
-#                       1    2       3       4    5       6        7
-# Usage: $(call makelib,objs,library,ldflags,libs,current,revision,age)
+#                       1    2       3       4        5
+# Usage: $(call makelib,objs,library,current,revision,age)
 define makelib
-	cl /nologo /Zi /Gy /EHsc /MD /LD /Fe$(basename $(2))$(5).dll $(1) \
+	cl /nologo /Zi /Gy /EHsc /MD /LD /Fe$(basename $(2))$(3).dll $(1) \
 		/link /incremental:no \
-		$(foreach L,$(subst -L,,$(3)),/LIBPATH:$(L)) \
-		$(foreach L,$(subst -l,,$(4)),$(L).lib)
-	if [ -f $(basename $(2))$(5).dll.manifest ]; then \
-		mt.exe -nologo -manifest $(basename $(2))$(5).dll.manifest \
-			-outputresource:$(basename $(2))$(5).dll\;2; \
+		$(foreach L,$(subst -L,,$(LDFLAGS)),/LIBPATH:$(L)) \
+		$(foreach L,$(subst -l,,$(LIBS)),$(L).lib)
+	if [ -f $(basename $(2))$(3).dll.manifest ]; then \
+		mt.exe -nologo -manifest $(basename $(2))$(3).dll.manifest \
+			-outputresource:$(basename $(2))$(3).dll\;2; \
 	fi
-	mv $(2)$(5).lib $(2).lib
 endef
 
-#                       1    2      3       4
-# Usage: $(call makebin,objs,binary,ldflags,libs)
+#                       1    2
+# Usage: $(call makebin,objs,binary)
 define makebin
 	cl /nologo /Zi /Gy /EHsc /MD $(1) \
 		/link /incremental:no /OUT:$(2) \
-		$(foreach L,$(subst -L,,$(3)),/LIBPATH:$(L)) \
-		$(foreach L,$(subst -l,,$(4)),$(L).lib)
+		$(foreach L,$(subst -L,,$(LDFLAGS)),/LIBPATH:$(L)) \
+		$(foreach L,$(subst -l,,$(LIBS)),$(L).lib)
 	if [ -f $(2).manifest ]; then \
 		mt.exe -nologo -manifest $(2).manifest \
 			-outputresource:$(2)\;2; \