diff --git a/doc/manual/src/installation/building-source.md b/doc/manual/src/installation/building-source.md
index d21a51a82..ed1efffd8 100644
--- a/doc/manual/src/installation/building-source.md
+++ b/doc/manual/src/installation/building-source.md
@@ -1,9 +1,9 @@
 # Building Nix from Source
 
-After unpacking or checking out the Nix sources, issue the following
-commands:
+After cloning Nix's Git repository, issue the following commands:
 
 ```console
+$ ./bootstrap.sh
 $ ./configure options...
 $ make
 $ make install
@@ -11,13 +11,6 @@ $ make install
 
 Nix requires GNU Make so you may need to invoke `gmake` instead.
 
-When building from the Git repository, these should be preceded by the
-command:
-
-```console
-$ ./bootstrap.sh
-```
-
 The installation path can be specified by passing the `--prefix=prefix`
 to `configure`. The default installation directory is `/usr/local`. You
 can change this to any location you like. You must have write permission
diff --git a/doc/manual/src/installation/installing-source.md b/doc/manual/src/installation/installing-source.md
index e52d38a03..09b4e4887 100644
--- a/doc/manual/src/installation/installing-source.md
+++ b/doc/manual/src/installation/installing-source.md
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
 # Installing Nix from Source
 
-If no binary package is available, you can download and compile a source
-distribution.
+If no binary package is available or if you want to hack on Nix, you
+can build Nix from its Git repository.
diff --git a/doc/manual/src/installation/obtaining-source.md b/doc/manual/src/installation/obtaining-source.md
index 0a906e390..da05d243d 100644
--- a/doc/manual/src/installation/obtaining-source.md
+++ b/doc/manual/src/installation/obtaining-source.md
@@ -1,14 +1,9 @@
-# Obtaining a Source Distribution
+# Obtaining the Source
 
-The source tarball of the most recent stable release can be downloaded
-from the [Nix homepage](http://nixos.org/nix/download.html). You can
-also grab the [most recent development
-release](http://hydra.nixos.org/job/nix/master/release/latest-finished#tabs-constituents).
-
-Alternatively, the most recent sources of Nix can be obtained from its
-[Git repository](https://github.com/NixOS/nix). For example, the
-following command will check out the latest revision into a directory
-called `nix`:
+The most recent sources of Nix can be obtained from its [Git
+repository](https://github.com/NixOS/nix). For example, the following
+command will check out the latest revision into a directory called
+`nix`:
 
 ```console
 $ git clone https://github.com/NixOS/nix
diff --git a/doc/manual/src/installation/prerequisites-source.md b/doc/manual/src/installation/prerequisites-source.md
index 40cb79627..0323a4f55 100644
--- a/doc/manual/src/installation/prerequisites-source.md
+++ b/doc/manual/src/installation/prerequisites-source.md
@@ -2,9 +2,8 @@
 
   - GNU Autoconf (<https://www.gnu.org/software/autoconf/>) and the
     autoconf-archive macro collection
-    (<https://www.gnu.org/software/autoconf-archive/>). These are only
-    needed to run the bootstrap script, and are not necessary if your
-    source distribution came with a pre-built `./configure` script.
+    (<https://www.gnu.org/software/autoconf-archive/>). These are
+    needed to run the bootstrap script.
 
   - GNU Make.
 
@@ -52,8 +51,7 @@
     you need version 2.5.35, which is available on
     [SourceForge](http://lex.sourceforge.net/). Slightly older versions
     may also work, but ancient versions like the ubiquitous 2.5.4a
-    won't. Note that these are only required if you modify the parser or
-    when you are building from the Git repository.
+    won't.
 
   - The `libseccomp` is used to provide syscall filtering on Linux. This
     is an optional dependency and can be disabled passing a