diff --git a/docs/hackinghowto.rst b/docs/hackinghowto.rst
index 986219e1..31925413 100644
--- a/docs/hackinghowto.rst
+++ b/docs/hackinghowto.rst
@@ -22,20 +22,17 @@ to, what needs to be worked on, and other things besides!
 How to set up an environment for hacking
 ========================================
 
-The following assumes you have these things installed:
+If running Debian GNU/Linux or a Debian-derived distro such as Mint or
+Ubuntu, running the following should install necessary dependencies:
 
-1. virtualenv:
-
-   http://pypi.python.org/pypi/virtualenv
-
-2. virtualenv wrapper: 
-
-   http://www.doughellmann.com/projects/virtualenvwrapper/
-
-3. git:
-
-   http://git-scm.com/
+   sudo apt-get install mongodb git-core python python-dev python-lxml
 
+Note: The following instructions describe a development environment
+that uses `zc.buildout <http://www.buildout.org/>`_ because it
+involves less steps to get things running and less knowledge of python
+packaging.  However, if you prefer to use
+`virtualenv <http://pypi.python.org/pypi/virtualenv>`_,
+that should work just fine.
 
 Follow these steps:
 
@@ -43,28 +40,20 @@ Follow these steps:
 
       git clone http://git.gitorious.org/mediagoblin/mediagoblin.git
 
-2. create a virtual environment::
+2. Bootstrap and run buildout::
 
-      mkvirtualenv mediagoblin
+      cd mediagoblin
+      python bootstrap.py && ./bin/buildout
 
-3. if that doesn't put you in the virtual environment you created,
-   then do::
+Now whenever you want to update mediagoblin's dependencies, just run::
 
-      workon mediagoblin
-
-4. run::
-
-      python setup.py develop
+      ./bin/buildout
 
 
-When you want to work on GNU MediaGoblin, make sure to enter your
-virtual environment::
-
-    workon mediagoblin
-
-Any changes you make to the code will show up in your virtual
-environment--there's no need to continuously run ``python setup.py
-develop``.
+Using this method, buildout should create a user_dev directory, in
+which certain things will be stored (media, beaker session stuff,
+etc).  You can change this, but for development purposes this default
+should be fine.
 
 
 Running the test suite
@@ -72,7 +61,7 @@ Running the test suite
 
 Run::
 
-    python setup.py test
+      ./bin/nosetests
 
 
 Creating a new file