diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 9cf8ae2ae..d8f399026 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -1,116 +1,43 @@
-# charybdis
+# charybdis/5
-Charybdis is an IRCv3 server designed to be highly scalable. It implements IRCv3.1 and some parts of IRCv3.2.
+Charybdis is a collaboration server designed to be scalable and community-developed.
-## building from git
+It implements communication protocols for Matrix and IRC.
-We no longer supply a prebuilt configure script in git, due to use of automake and libtool causing problems.
-You will need to run `autogen.sh` to build the autotools files prior to building charybdis.
+## Building from git
-## feature specific requirements
+ * `git clone https://github.com/charybdis-ircd/charybdis`
+ * `cd charybdis`
+ * `./configure`
+ * `make`
+ * `make install`
- * For SSL/TLS client and server connections, one of:
+### Notable configuration options when building
- * OpenSSL 1.0.0 or newer (--enable-openssl)
- * LibreSSL (--enable-openssl)
- * mbedTLS (--enable-mbedtls)
- * GnuTLS (--enable-gnutls)
+ * `--enable-debug`
+ * `--with-included-boost[=shared]`
+ * `--with-included-rocksdb[=shared]`
- * For certificate-based oper CHALLENGE, OpenSSL 1.0.0 or newer.
- (Using CHALLENGE is not recommended for new deployments, so if you want to use a different TLS library,
- feel free.)
-
- * For ECDHE under OpenSSL, on Solaris and RHEL/Fedora (and its derivatives such as CentOS) you will
- need to compile your own OpenSSL on these systems, as they have removed support for ECC/ECDHE.
- Alternatively, consider using another library (see above).
-
-## platforms
-
-Charybdis is designed with portability in mind, but does not target older systems nor those of solely academic
-interest. Operating systems are only supported if they are supported by their vendor.
-
-#### testing
-
-[![SemVer](http://img.shields.io/SemVer/v4.0.0-rc2.png)](https://github.com/charybdis-ircd/charybdis/tree/release/4)
-*This branch is testing and does not guarantee stability.*
-
-| Continuously Integrated Host | Compiler | Third party | Status |
-|:------------------------------------------- |:------------------------ |:------------------------ |:------------------- |
-| Linux Ubuntu 12.04 Precise | GCC 4.8 | | [![POSIX Build Status](https://travis-ci.org/charybdis-ircd/charybdis.svg?branch=release/4)](https://travis-ci.org/charybdis-ircd/charybdis) |
-| Linux Ubuntu 12.04 Precise | GCC 4.9 | | [![POSIX Build Status](https://travis-ci.org/charybdis-ircd/charybdis.svg?branch=release/4)](https://travis-ci.org/charybdis-ircd/charybdis) |
-| Linux Ubuntu 12.04 Precise | GCC 5 | | [![POSIX Build Status](https://travis-ci.org/charybdis-ircd/charybdis.svg?branch=release/4)](https://travis-ci.org/charybdis-ircd/charybdis) |
-| Linux Ubuntu 12.04 Precise | Clang 3.4 | | [![POSIX Build Status](https://travis-ci.org/charybdis-ircd/charybdis.svg?branch=release/4)](https://travis-ci.org/charybdis-ircd/charybdis) |
-| Apple Darwin 15.5 | LLVM 7.3.0 | | [![POSIX Build Status](https://travis-ci.org/charybdis-ircd/charybdis.svg?branch=release/4)](https://travis-ci.org/charybdis-ircd/charybdis) |
-| Windows | mingw 3.5 | | [![Windows Build Status](https://ci.appveyor.com/api/projects/status/is0obsml8xyq2qk7/branch/release/4?svg=true)](https://ci.appveyor.com/project/kaniini/charybdis/branch/release/4) |
-
-#### stable
-
-[![SemVer](http://img.shields.io/SemVer/v3.5.0.png)](https://github.com/charybdis-ircd/charybdis/tree/release/3.5)
-
-| Continuously Integrated Host | Compiler | Third party | Status |
-|:------------------------------------------- |:------------------------ |:------------------------ |:------------------- |
-| Linux Ubuntu 12.04 Precise | GCC 4.8 | | [![POSIX Build Status](https://travis-ci.org/charybdis-ircd/charybdis.svg?branch=release/3.5)](https://travis-ci.org/charybdis-ircd/charybdis) |
-| Linux Ubuntu 12.04 Precise | GCC 4.9 | | [![POSIX Build Status](https://travis-ci.org/charybdis-ircd/charybdis.svg?branch=release/3.5)](https://travis-ci.org/charybdis-ircd/charybdis) |
-| Linux Ubuntu 12.04 Precise | GCC 5 | | [![POSIX Build Status](https://travis-ci.org/charybdis-ircd/charybdis.svg?branch=release/3.5)](https://travis-ci.org/charybdis-ircd/charybdis) |
-| Linux Ubuntu 12.04 Precise | Clang 3.4 | | [![POSIX Build Status](https://travis-ci.org/charybdis-ircd/charybdis.svg?branch=release/3.5)](https://travis-ci.org/charybdis-ircd/charybdis) |
-| Apple Darwin 15.5 | LLVM 7.3.0 | | [![POSIX Build Status](https://travis-ci.org/charybdis-ircd/charybdis.svg?branch=release/3.5)](https://travis-ci.org/charybdis-ircd/charybdis) |
-| Windows | mingw 3.5 | | [![Windows Build Status](https://ci.appveyor.com/api/projects/status/is0obsml8xyq2qk7/branch/release/3.5?svg=true)](https://ci.appveyor.com/project/kaniini/charybdis/branch/release/3.5) |
-
-* Tier 1 platforms should always work **when using a release version tag.** If you encounter problems, please file a bug.
- * FreeBSD 10+ (i386/amd64)
- * Mac OS X 10.7+
- * Vista/Server 2008 (x86/x64)
- * Linux 2.6 (x86_64/ARM) with glibc or musl
-
-* Tier 2 platforms should work, but this is not guaranteed. If you find any problems, file a bug, but as these are not regularly tested platforms, a timely resolution may not be possible.
- * Linux (i386/x86_64) with uClibc
- * DragonflyBSD 4.4+ (i386)
- * NetBSD 6.1.x+ (i386/amd64)
- * OpenBSD 5.6+ (i386/amd64)
- * Solaris 10+ (i386)
-
-
-#### development
+## Platforms
[![Charybdis](http://img.shields.io/SemVer/v5.0.0-dev.png)](https://github.com/charybdis-ircd/charybdis/tree/master)
*This branch is not meant for production. Use at your own risk.*
| Continuously Integrated Host | Compiler | Third party | Status |
|:------------------------------------------- |:------------------------ |:------------------------ |:------------------- |
-| Linux Ubuntu 12.04 Precise | GCC 4.9 | Boost 1.61 | [![POSIX Build Status](https://travis-ci.org/charybdis-ircd/charybdis.svg?branch=master)](https://travis-ci.org/charybdis-ircd/charybdis) |
| Linux Ubuntu 12.04 Precise | GCC 5 | Boost 1.61 | [![POSIX Build Status](https://travis-ci.org/charybdis-ircd/charybdis.svg?branch=master)](https://travis-ci.org/charybdis-ircd/charybdis) |
-| Linux Ubuntu 12.04 Precise | Clang 3.6 | Boost 1.61 | [![POSIX Build Status](https://travis-ci.org/charybdis-ircd/charybdis.svg?branch=master)](https://travis-ci.org/charybdis-ircd/charybdis) |
| Linux Ubuntu 14.04 Trusty | GCC 6 | Boost 1.61 | [![POSIX Build Status](https://travis-ci.org/charybdis-ircd/charybdis.svg?branch=master)](https://travis-ci.org/charybdis-ircd/charybdis) |
| Linux Ubuntu 14.04 Trusty | Clang 3.8 | Boost 1.61 | [![POSIX Build Status](https://travis-ci.org/charybdis-ircd/charybdis.svg?branch=master)](https://travis-ci.org/charybdis-ircd/charybdis) |
| Apple Darwin 15.5 | LLVM 7.3.0 | Boost 1.61 | [![POSIX Build Status](https://travis-ci.org/charybdis-ircd/charybdis.svg?branch=master)](https://travis-ci.org/charybdis-ircd/charybdis) |
| Windows | mingw 3.5 | Boost 1.61 | [![Windows Build Status](https://ci.appveyor.com/api/projects/status/is0obsml8xyq2qk7/branch/master?svg=true)](https://ci.appveyor.com/project/kaniini/charybdis/branch/master) |
-
-## platform specific errata
-
-These are known issues and workarounds for supported platforms.
-
- * **FreeBSD**: if you are compiling with ipv6 you may experience
- problems with ipv4 due to the way the socket code is written. To
- fix this you must: "sysctl net.inet6.ip6.v6only=0"
-
- * **Solaris**: you may have to set your PATH to include /usr/gnu/bin and /usr/gnu/sbin before /usr/bin
- and /usr/sbin. Solaris's default tools don't seem to play nicely with the configure script.
-
-## tips
-
- * To report bugs in charybdis, visit us at irc.freenode.net #charybdis
+## Tips
* Please read doc/index.txt to get an overview of the current documentation.
* Read the NEWS file for what's new in this release.
- * The files, /etc/services, /etc/protocols, and /etc/resolv.conf, SHOULD be
- readable by the user running the server in order for ircd to start with
- the correct settings. If these files are wrong, charybdis will try to use
- 127.0.0.1 for a resolver as a last-ditch effort.
-
-## git access
+## Git access
* The Charybdis GIT repository can be checked out using the following command:
`git clone https://github.com/charybdis-ircd/charybdis`