diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index ea7e2a255..0c47ea95f 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -1,6 +1,19 @@
 
 # this Makefile requires GNU make
 
+# If you get an error message like the following:
+
+# error: Setup script exited with error: Python was built with version 7.1 of Visual Studio, and extensions need to be built with the same version of the compiler, but it isn't installed.
+
+# Then that probably means that you aren't using the the right
+# compiler.  In that case, try creating distutils configuration file
+# (as described in http://docs.python.org/inst/config-syntax.html ),
+# specifying which compiler to use.  For example, if you use either
+# the cygwin gcc compiler with mingw support, or the MINGW compiler,
+# then you can add the following lines to your .cfg file:
+# [build]
+# compiler=mingw32
+
 default: build
 
 BASE=$(shell pwd)