diff --git a/Makefile.am b/Makefile.am
index 4530bdb25..0bfe4ee05 100644
--- a/Makefile.am
+++ b/Makefile.am
@@ -24,4 +24,5 @@ src/include/taler_error_codes.h: contrib/gana/gnu-taler-error-codes/registry.rec
 
 ACLOCAL_AMFLAGS = -I m4
 EXTRA_DIST = build-aux/config.rpath   \
-  AUTHORS
+  AUTHORS \
+  README.1st
diff --git a/README.1st b/README.1st
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..e1925d7e7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/README.1st
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+Building Taler
+==============
+
+Contributions are welcome. Please submit bugs you find to
+https://bugs.taler.net/ or our bugs mailinglist.  Submit patches via E-Mail to
+taler@gnu.org, formatted with `git format-patch`.
+
+In order to run the unit tests by hand (instead of using "make check"),
+you need to set the environment variable "TALER_PREFIX" to the
+directory where Taler's libraries are installed.
+Before running any testcases, you must complete the installation.
+
+Quick summary:
+
+$ ./configure --prefix=$SOMEWHERE
+$ make
+$ make install
+$ export $GNUNET_PREFIX=$SOMEWHERE
+$ make check