diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index f7d917d09d..cce55b2ea5 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 all: youtube-dl README.md README.txt youtube-dl.1 youtube-dl.bash-completion
 
 clean:
-	rm -rf youtube-dl.1 youtube-dl.bash-completion README.txt MANIFEST build/ dist/ .coverage cover/ youtube-dl.tar.gz
+	rm -rf youtube-dl.1.temp.md youtube-dl.1 youtube-dl.bash-completion README.txt MANIFEST build/ dist/ .coverage cover/ youtube-dl.tar.gz
 
 cleanall: clean
 	rm -f youtube-dl youtube-dl.exe
@@ -55,7 +55,9 @@ README.txt: README.md
 	pandoc -f markdown -t plain README.md -o README.txt
 
 youtube-dl.1: README.md
-	pandoc -s -f markdown -t man README.md -o youtube-dl.1
+	python devscripts/prepare_manpage.py >youtube-dl.1.temp.md
+	pandoc -s -f markdown -t man README.md -o youtube-dl.1.temp.md
+	rm -f youtube-dl.1.temp.md
 
 youtube-dl.bash-completion: youtube_dl/*.py youtube_dl/*/*.py devscripts/bash-completion.in
 	python devscripts/bash-completion.py
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 6cfd2c1481..2bea609bfc 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -1,11 +1,24 @@
-% YOUTUBE-DL(1)
-
-# NAME
 youtube-dl - download videos from youtube.com or other video platforms
 
 # SYNOPSIS
 **youtube-dl** [OPTIONS] URL [URL...]
 
+# INSTALLATION
+
+To install it right away for all UNIX users (Linux, OS X, etc.), type:
+
+    sudo curl https://yt-dl.org/latest/youtube-dl -o /usr/local/bin/youtube-dl
+    sudo chmod a+x /usr/local/bin/youtube-dl
+
+If you do not have curl, you can alternatively use a recent wget:
+
+    sudo wget https://yt-dl.org/downloads/2014.05.13/youtube-dl -O /usr/local/bin/youtube-dl
+    sudo chmod a+x /usr/local/bin/youtube-dl
+
+Windows users can [download a .exe file](https://yt-dl.org/latest/youtube-dl.exe) and place it in their home directory or any other location on their [PATH](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PATH_%28variable%29).
+
+Alternatively, refer to the developer instructions below for how to check out and work with the git repository. For further options, including PGP signatures, see https://rg3.github.io/youtube-dl/download.html .
+
 # DESCRIPTION
 **youtube-dl** is a small command-line program to download videos from
 YouTube.com and a few more sites. It requires the Python interpreter, version
diff --git a/devscripts/make_readme.py b/devscripts/make_readme.py
index cae1fa4f24..70fa942dd1 100755
--- a/devscripts/make_readme.py
+++ b/devscripts/make_readme.py
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@
 footer = oldreadme[oldreadme.index('# CONFIGURATION'):]
 
 options = helptext[helptext.index('  General Options:') + 19:]
-options = re.sub(r'^  (\w.+)$', r'## \1', options, flags=re.M)
+options = re.sub(r'(?m)^  (\w.+)$', r'## \1', options)
 options = '# OPTIONS\n' + options + '\n'
 
 with io.open(README_FILE, 'w', encoding='utf-8') as f: