diff --git a/chapter05/gcc-inst.xml b/chapter05/gcc-inst.xml
index 3b52c7dc5..c79a98ee4 100644
--- a/chapter05/gcc-inst.xml
+++ b/chapter05/gcc-inst.xml
@@ -1,6 +1,10 @@
 <sect2>
 <title>Installation of GCC</title>
 
+<para>This package requires its patch to be applied before you can
+install it. Make sure it's unpacked before running the installation
+commands.</para>
+
 <para>This package is known to behave badly when you have changed its
 default optimization flags (including the -march and -mcpu options). GCC is
 best left alone.  Therefore, if you have defined any environment variables
diff --git a/chapter06/findutils-inst.xml b/chapter06/findutils-inst.xml
index 9331a799a..543269f3a 100644
--- a/chapter06/findutils-inst.xml
+++ b/chapter06/findutils-inst.xml
@@ -1,8 +1,9 @@
 <sect2>
 <title>Installing Findutils</title>
 
-<para>Before Findutils is installed the findutils patch file has 
-to be unpacked.</para>
+<para>This package requires its patch to be applied before you can
+install it. Make sure it's unpacked before running the installation 
+commands.</para>
 
 <para>Install Findutils by running the following commands:</para>
 
diff --git a/chapter06/gcc-inst.xml b/chapter06/gcc-inst.xml
index b956b2499..ff0db53be 100644
--- a/chapter06/gcc-inst.xml
+++ b/chapter06/gcc-inst.xml
@@ -1,6 +1,10 @@
 <sect2>
 <title>Installation of GCC</title>
 
+<para>This package requires its patch to be applied before you can
+install it. Make sure it's unpacked before running the installation 
+commands.</para>
+
 <para>This package is known to behave badly when you have changed its
 default optimization flags (including the -march and -mcpu options). GCC is
 best left alone.  Therefore, if you have defined any environment variables
diff --git a/chapter06/kbd-inst.xml b/chapter06/kbd-inst.xml
index 87413069f..c6daefdae 100644
--- a/chapter06/kbd-inst.xml
+++ b/chapter06/kbd-inst.xml
@@ -1,6 +1,10 @@
 <sect2>
 <title>Installation of Kbd</title>
 
+<para>This package requires its patch to be applied before you can
+install it. Make sure it's unpacked before running the installation 
+commands.</para>
+
 <para>Install Kbd by running the following commands:</para>
 
 <para><screen><userinput>patch -Np1 -i ../kbd-&kbd-patch-version;.patch &amp;&amp;