diff --git a/INSTALL b/INSTALL
index 9e0126221..563847f1e 100644
--- a/INSTALL
+++ b/INSTALL
@@ -38,6 +38,15 @@ eventually need them.
 If you haven't already checked it out, for a list of distribution contents,
 contacts and links to documentation check out index.html.
 
+Compiling under all (UNIX - including CYGWIN) Platforms
+-------------------------------------------------------
+
+Building the OSG requires 'gmake', due to the extensive use of gmake 
+directives in the Makefiles.  You can get gmake from here if you don't
+already have it installed:
+
+     http://www.gnu.org/software/make/
+
 
 Compiling under Linux
 ---------------------
@@ -46,23 +55,22 @@ Compiling under Linux
 
         make
         
-    Note, make should automatically detect linux and copy the 
-    Make/makerules.linux and Make/makedefs.linux over the 
-    default Make/makerules and Make/makedefs.  If autodetection
-    does not work type 'make linux'.
+    Note, make should automatically detect linux and build
+    optimized targets for your system.
 
-    And if you wish to install the OSG to /usr/include/ &
-    /usr/lib then su root, and type:
+    And if you wish to install the OSG type:
     
         make install
         
           or
           
         make instlinks
-         
+
     To get full details of make options, type:
     
         make help
+
+    (highly recommended)
         
         
     The osgText library now depends upon GLU1.3 functionality, and only
@@ -76,12 +84,14 @@ Compiling under Linux
 Compiling under FreeBSD
 -----------------------
 
-   To compile, from the OSG root directory, type :
+    To compile, from the OSG root directory, type:
 
-        make freebsd
+        make
+        
+    Note, make should automatically detect your system and build
+    optimized targets for your system.
 
-    And if you wish to install the OSG to /usr/include/ &
-    /usr/lib then su root, and type:
+    And if you wish to install the OSG type:
     
         make install
         
@@ -93,6 +103,9 @@ Compiling under FreeBSD
     
         make help
 
+    (highly recommended)
+
+
 
 Compiling under IRIX
 --------------------
@@ -103,17 +116,14 @@ Compiling under IRIX
     unwildy to support and is very rarely used in the OSG commiunity.
     It is recommended to use MIPSPro7.3.1.1m.
     
-    To compile, from the OSG root directory, type :
+    To compile, from the OSG root directory, type:
 
         make
+        
+    Note, make should automatically detect your system and build
+    optimized targets for your system.
 
-    Note, make should automatically detect IRIX and copy the 
-    Make/makerules.irix.std and Make/makedefs.irix.std over the 
-    default Make/makerules and Make/makedefs.  If autodetection
-    does not work type 'make irix'.
-
-    And if you wish to install the OSG to /usr/include/ &
-    /usr/lib then su root, and type:
+    And if you wish to install the OSG type:
     
         make install
         
@@ -125,6 +135,32 @@ Compiling under IRIX
     
         make help
 
+    (highly recommended)
+
+Compiling under Solaris
+-----------------------
+
+    To compile, from the OSG root directory, type:
+
+        make
+        
+    Note, make should automatically detect your system and build
+    optimized targets for your system.
+
+    And if you wish to install the OSG type:
+    
+        make install
+        
+          or
+          
+        make instlinks
+         
+    To get full details of make options, type:
+    
+        make help
+
+    (highly recommended)
+
 
 Compiling under Windows
 -----------------------
@@ -246,6 +282,30 @@ Compiling under MacOS X (instructions written by Phil Atkin)
     forewarned is forearmed.
 
 
+Compiling under Cygwin
+----------------------
+
+    To compile, from the OSG root directory, type:
+
+        make
+        
+    Note, make should automatically detect your system and build
+    optimized targets for your system.
+
+    And if you wish to install the OSG type:
+    
+        make install
+        
+    Note that make symbolic links don't seem to work under
+    cygwin, so a make instlinks will simply copy files just like
+    make install.  'make install' places all files in 
+    /usr/local/OpenSceneGraph under appropriate subdirectories.
+
+    To get full details of make options, type:
+    
+        make help
+
+    (highly recommended)
 
 OSGFILEPATH environmental variable
 ----------------------------------
diff --git a/Make/help.sh b/Make/help.sh
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..a2fce4483
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Make/help.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,151 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+
+OS=$1
+TOPDIR=$2
+INST_LIBS=$3
+INST_PLUGINS=$4
+INST_INCLUDE=$5
+INST_DEMOS=$6
+INST_DEMO_SRC=$7
+INST_DOC=$8
+INST_DATA=$9
+
+
+cat <<- EOF
+
+The following targets can be used with any subsystem as well as the top
+level build (build in the OSG Root directory).  Note that debug versions 
+and optimized version of targets reside in parallel.
+
+  make              - Same as 'make opt'
+  make opt          - Makes optimized versions of all targets
+  make debug        - Makes debug versions of all targets.
+  make clean        - Removes all object files (both optimized and debug 
+                      versions)
+  make cleanopt     - Removes optimized version of object files
+  make cleandbg     - Removes debug version of object files
+  make cleanlite    - Removes only targets but leaves object files (both
+                      optimized and debug versions)
+  make cleanliteopt - Removes only optimized targets but leaves optimized
+                      objects files.
+  make cleanlitedbg - Removes only debug targets but leaves debug object
+                      files
+  make clobber      - Removes object files and targets (both optimized and
+                      debug versions)
+  make clobberopt   - Removes optimized object files and targets
+  make clobberdbg   - Removes debug object files and targets
+  make beautify     - Pretty print C++ files
+  make docs         - Builds documentation database for current target
+  make depend       - Force a rebuild of the dependency file.  Note that
+                      dependency files are generated automatically during
+                      builds.
+
+
+Solars and IRIX can build 64 bit targets.  These require the ARCH=64 argument.
+For example:
+
+  make ARCH=64       - Same as 'make ARCH=64 opt'
+  make ARCH=64 opt   - Builds 64 bit optimized targets
+  make ARCH=64 debug - Builds 64 bit debug versions of targets
+  make ARCH=64 clean - Removes all 64 bit object files (both optimized and
+                       debug versions).
+
+  etc.
+
+The following targets may only be issued from the top-level OSG build:
+
+  make install      - Install both execution environment and development
+                      targets 
+  make instbin      - Install execution environment targets only.  These
+                      consist of libraries, plugins and demo programs.
+                      Libraries are installed in
+                        o $INST_LIBS,
+                      plugins are installed in 
+                        o $INST_PLUGINS,
+                      and demos are installed in 
+                        o $INST_DEMOS
+                      on $OS
+
+  make instdev      - Install development targets only.  These consist of
+                      header files, source code to the demo programs, and
+                      documentation.
+                      Header files are install in 
+                        o $INST_INCLUDE,
+                      demo source code is installed in
+                        o $INST_DEMO_SRC,
+                      and documentation is installed in
+                        o $INST_DOC
+                      on $OS
+
+  make instlinks    - Installs symbolic links at install locations for both
+                      execution environment and development targets rather
+                      than copyied files.  Installing links is ideal for a
+                      development environment for avoiding confusion about
+                      which binaries are being run or linked to.
+
+  make instlinksbin  - Installs symbolic links at install locations for
+                       execution environment targets only.
+  make instlinksdev  - Installs symbolic links at install locations for
+                       development targets only
+  make instclean     - Removes installed targets (files or links) from 
+                       installation locations for both execution environment
+                       and development targets
+  make instcleanbin  - Removes installed targets from installation locations
+                       for execution environment targets only
+  make instcleandev  - Removes installed targets from installation locations
+                       for defelopment targets only
+
+Note that the following variables can be used to directly override the default 
+installation locations for $OS.
+
+  make  INST_LIBS=<libs_location> \\
+        INST_PLUGINS=<plugins_location>\\
+        INST_INCLUDE=<header_file_location>\\
+        INST_DEMOS=<demos_location>\\
+        INST_DEMO_SRC=<demo_src_location>\\
+        INST_DOC=<doc_location>\\
+        install
+
+                     - Installs libraries in <libs_location>, plugins in 
+                       <plugins_location>, header files in 
+                       <header_file_location>, demos in <demos_location>,
+                       demo source code in <demo_src_location> and 
+                       documentation in <doc_location>
+
+Note also that INST_LIBS, INST_PLUGINS, and INST_INCLUDE share a common 
+prefix by default: INST_SYS_PREFIX. Further INST_DEMOS, INST_DEMOS_SRC, 
+INST_DOC, and INST_DATA share a common prefix by default : INST_SHARE_PREFIX.
+This provides a short cut for the above 'make' usage.  For example,
+
+  make INST_SYS_PREFIX=/usr/local/OpenSceneGraph \\
+       INST_SHARE_PREFIX=/usr/share/OpenSceneGraph \\
+       install
+
+
+These values can be tested by reissuing 'make help' with these arguments.
+
+After doing a 'make install' or 'make instlinks', and if not already added, 
+add
+
+    $INST_DEMOS
+
+to your PATH environmental variable to run the demos.  If it is not already 
+present, add
+
+    $INST_LIBS
+
+and  
+
+    $INST_PLUGINS
+
+to your LD_LIBRARY_PATH environmental variable.  When compiling programs 
+using OSG headers add to your -I compile flags:
+
+    $INST_INCLUDE
+
+
+
+
+EOF
+
+exit 0
diff --git a/Make/helprules b/Make/helprules
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..c38529d81
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Make/helprules
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+help:
+	$(TOPDIR)/Make/help.sh\
+		$(OS)\
+		$(TOPDIR)\
+		$(INST_LIBS)\
+		$(INST_PLUGINS)\
+		$(INST_INCLUDE)\
+		$(INST_DEMOS)\
+		$(INST_DEMO_SRC)\
+		$(INST_DOC)\
+		$(INST_DATA) | more
diff --git a/Make/instrules b/Make/instrules
index 834b6b440..5051420a8 100644
--- a/Make/instrules
+++ b/Make/instrules
@@ -7,6 +7,13 @@ instbin :
 		INSTALL?="$(INSTBINCMD)" __install
 	@$(MAKE) INSTSRC=$(TOPDIR)/lib/osgPlugins INSTDEST=$(INST_PLUGINS)\
 		INSTALL?="$(INSTBINCMD)" __install
+	@echo
+	@echo "    Execution environment installation successful.  Add"
+	@echo "        $(INST_DEMOS)"
+	@echo "    to your PATH environmental variable, and "
+	@echo "        $(INST_LIBS) and $(INST_PLUGINS)"
+	@echo "    to your LD_LIBRARY_PATH if not already present."
+	@echo
 
 
 instdev :
@@ -26,6 +33,12 @@ instdev :
 		   INSTALL?="$(INSTDEVCMD)" __install;\
 	  fi\
 	done
+	@echo
+	@echo "    Development environment installation successful.  Add"
+	@echo "        -I/$(INST_INCLUDE)"
+	@echo "    compile flag when compiling with OSG header files."
+	@echo "    Example programs can be found at $(INST_DEMOS_SRC)."
+	@echo
 
 instlinks : instlinksbin instlinksdev
 
diff --git a/Make/makedefs b/Make/makedefs
index 0b6bc750f..3459d8957 100644
--- a/Make/makedefs
+++ b/Make/makedefs
@@ -41,7 +41,7 @@ INST_INCLUDE       = $(INST_SYS_PREFIX)/include
 INST_SHARE_PREFIX  = /usr/share
 INST_DEMOS         = $(INST_SHARE_PREFIX)/OpenSceneGraph/bin
 INST_DEMO_SRC      = $(INST_SHARE_PREFIX)/OpenSceneGraph/src/demos
-INST_DOC           = $(INST_SHARE_REFIX)/OpenSceneGraph/doc
+INST_DOC           = $(INST_SHARE_PREFIX)/OpenSceneGraph/doc
 INST_DATA          = $(INST_SHARE_PREFIX)/OpenSceneGraph/data
 
 LINK          = ln -sf
@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@ PLUGIN_EXT     = so
 
 MAKEDIST       = echo "   === Distribution build is not implemented yet for $(OS)"; printf "\n"
 
-ALL_TARGETS = \
+RECURSIVE_TARGETS = \
 	  opt\
 	  debug\
 	  clean\
@@ -67,6 +67,8 @@ ALL_TARGETS = \
 	  cleanliteopt\
 	  cleanlitedbg\
 	  clobber\
+	  clobberdbg\
+	  clobberopt\
 	  beautify\
 	  docs\
 	  depend\
@@ -185,7 +187,7 @@ ifeq ($(OS),FreeBSD)
 
 endif
 
-#### Mac OSX specific definitions
+#### MacOS X specific definitions
 ifeq ($(OS),Darwin)
   C++               = cc
   INC               +=  -I/usr/include -I/sw/include
@@ -258,12 +260,22 @@ ifeq ($(OS),CYGWIN)
   FREETYPE_LIB      = -lfreetype2
 
 
-  LIB_PREFIX     = cyg
-  LIB_EXT        = dll
-  PLUGIN_PREFIX  = cygosgdb_
-  PLUGIN_EXT     = dll
+  LIB_PREFIX        = cyg
+  LIB_EXT           = dll
+  PLUGIN_PREFIX     = cygosgdb_
+  PLUGIN_EXT        = dll
 
-  LINK          = cp -f
+  LINK              = cp -f
+
+  INST_SYS_PREFIX   = /usr/local/OpenSceneGraph
+  INST_LIBS         = $(INST_SYS_PREFIX)/bin
+  INST_PLUGINS      = $(INST_SYS_PREFIX)/bin
+  INST_INCLUDE      = $(INST_SYS_PREFIX)/include
+  INST_SHARE_PREFIX = /usr/local/OpenSceneGraph
+  INST_DEMOS        = $(INST_SHARE_PREFIX)/bin
+  INST_DEMO_SRC     = $(INST_SHARE_PREFIX)/src/demos
+  INST_DOC          = $(INST_SHARE_PREFIX)/doc
+  INST_DATA         = $(INST_SHARE_PREFIX)/data
 
 endif
 
diff --git a/Make/makedirrules b/Make/makedirrules
index 4f04f0210..8add1ff83 100644
--- a/Make/makedirrules
+++ b/Make/makedirrules
@@ -2,5 +2,5 @@
 default : $(DIRS)
 	@for f in $(DIRS); do cd $$f; $(MAKE) $@ || exit 1; cd ..; done
 
-$(ALL_TARGETS) :  $(DIRS)
+$(RECURSIVE_TARGETS) :  $(DIRS)
 	@for f in $(DIRS); do cd $$f; $(MAKE) $@ || exit 1; cd ..; done
diff --git a/Make/makerules b/Make/makerules
index 6f7f67930..cc4d908a8 100644
--- a/Make/makerules
+++ b/Make/makerules
@@ -46,6 +46,7 @@ docs:
 	echo "$(TARGET_BASENAME) HTML documentation created in "\
 	     "$(TOPDIR)/doc/doc++/$(TARGET_BASENAME)"
 
+
 $(EXEC) : $(OBJS) 
 	$(C++) $(LDFLAGS) $(OBJS) $(LIBS) -o $@
 
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index ce5ed3872..181631cf7 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -6,3 +6,4 @@ DIRS = src
 include $(TOPDIR)/Make/makedirrules
 include $(TOPDIR)/Make/instrules
 include $(TOPDIR)/Make/distrules
+include $(TOPDIR)/Make/helprules
diff --git a/src/osgDB/Registry.cpp b/src/osgDB/Registry.cpp
index 855a277e8..0606fa182 100644
--- a/src/osgDB/Registry.cpp
+++ b/src/osgDB/Registry.cpp
@@ -225,18 +225,26 @@ std::string Registry::createLibraryNameForExt(const std::string& ext)
     ExtensionAliasMap::iterator itr=_extAliasMap.find(ext);
     if (itr!=_extAliasMap.end()) return createLibraryNameForExt(itr->second);
 
-#if defined(WIN32)
+#if defined(WIN32) // [
 // !! recheck evolving Cygwin DLL extension naming protocols !! NHV
-#   ifdef _DEBUG
+ #ifdef __CYGWIN__ // [
+#   ifdef _DEBUG   // [
+	return "cygosgdb_"+ext+"d.dll";
+#   else           // ][
+	return "cygosgdb_"+ext+".dll";
+#   endif          // ]
+ #else             // ][
+#   ifdef _DEBUG   // [
     return "osgdb_"+ext+"d.dll";
-#   else
+#   else           // ][
     return "osgdb_"+ext+".dll";
-#   endif
-#elif macintosh
+#   endif          // ]
+ #endif            // ]
+#elif macintosh    // ][
     return "osgdb_"+ext;
-#else
+#else              // ][
     return "osgdb_"+ext+".so";
-#endif
+#endif             // ]
 
 }