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diff --git a/subdirmk/README b/subdirmk/README
index 8a9f837..bebbf81 100644
--- a/subdirmk/README
+++ b/subdirmk/README
@@ -31,8 +31,97 @@ relevant subdirectory called `Subdir.mk.in'.
 These fragments may contain ordinary make language.
 
 However, the sigil & is treated specially.  By and large, it refers to
-`the current directory'.  Variable names and filenames may be prefixed
-by &_ and &/.  Lists of 
+`the current directory'.  There are a variety of convenient
+constructions.
+
+The result is that to a large extent, the Subdir.mk.in has an easy way
+to namespace its "local" make variables, and an easy way to refer to
+its "local" filenames.
+
+The Subdir.mk.in's are filtered, fed through autoconf in the usual way
+(for @..@-substitutions) and included by one autogenerated toplevel
+makefile.
+
+So all of the input is combined and passed to one make invocation.  (A
+corollary is that there is no enforcement of the namespacing:
+discipline is required to prefix relevant variable names with &, etc.
+
+Each subdirectory is also provided with an autogenerated `Makefile'
+which exists purely to capture ordinary make invocations and arrange
+for something suitable to happen.
+
+Where there are dependencies between subdirectories, each Subdir.mk.in
+can simply refer to files in other subdirectories directly.
+
+Invocation, "recursive" per-directory targets
+---------------------------------------------
+
+Arrangements are made so that when you run `make foo' in a
+subdirectory, it is like running the whole toplevel makefile, from the
+toplevel, as `make subdir/foo'.  If `subdir/foo' is a file that might
+be built, that builds it.
+
+But `foo' can also be a conventional target like `all'.
+
+Each subdirectory has its own `all' target.  For example a
+subdirectory `src' has a target `src/all'.  The rules for these are
+automatically generated from the settings of the per-directory
+&TARGETS variables.  (In src/Subdir.mk.in, this of course refers to a
+make variable called src_TARGETS.)
+
+The `all' target in a parent directory is taken to imply the `all'
+targets in all of its subdirectories, recursively.  And in the
+autogenerated stub Makefiles, `all' is the default target.  So if you
+just type `make' in the toplevel, you are asking for `&all'
+(<subdir>/all) for every directory in the project.
+
+In a parallel build, the rules for all these various subdirectory
+targets may be in run in parallel: there is only one `make'
+invocation at a time.
+
+You can define other per-directory recursive targets too: simply
+mention (usually, by setting) the variable &TARGETS_zonk, or whatever.
+This will create a src/zonk target.  (&TARGETS is magic.)
+Unlike `all', these other targets only exist in areas of the project
+where at least something mentions them.  So for example, if
+&TARGETS_zonk is mentioned in src but not lib, `make zonk' in
+lib will fail.  If you want to make a target exist everywhere,
+mention its name in Perdir.mk.in (see below).
+
+Perdir.mk.in, inclusion
+-----------------------
+
+The file Perdir.mk.in in the toplevel of fthe source is automatically
+processed after each individual directory's Subdir.mk.in, and the
+&-substituted contents therefore appear once for each subdirectory.
+
+This lets you do per-directory boilerplate.  Some useful boilerplate
+is already provided in subdirmk, for you to reference like this:
+  &:include subdirmk/cdeps.mk.in
+  &:include subdirmk/clean.mk.in
+
+Note that you must use &:include, which is an include processed during
+the generation of the per-directory Subdir.mk files.  That ensures
+that the contents of these files is replicated, with appropriate
+per-directory substitutions, for each directory.
+
+Global definitions
+------------------
+
+If want to set global variables, such as CC
+
+
+
+  subdirmk/cdeps.mk.in
+  subdirmk/cdeps.mk.in
+  
+
+
+
+
+
+
+  (None of this prevents