diff --git a/README.rst b/README.rst
index 126002a7..2c822695 100644
--- a/README.rst
+++ b/README.rst
@@ -16,11 +16,67 @@ There are dozens of pages of design notes, but the plan still lacks coherence, s
 How to use
 -------------------------------
 
-The compiler is written in Rust for WebAssembly. You can run it using:
+The compiler is not complete yet and cannot be used for real code.
 
-    rustup toolchain install nightly
-    cargo install cargo-wasm
-    cargo wasm build
+But if you want to play with it, or even help to complete it, here is how!
 
-This compiles to native code, with WebAssembly to be added later (#34).
+These instructions were tested on Ubuntu 18.4 (using Bash). It should also work on other platforms, if you 'translate' the commands.
 
+* You will need `pkg-config`, `libssl-dev`, `git` and some way to run commands. Python is optional.
+
+* Get the code with (something like). 
+
+.. code:: bash
+
+	git clone https://github.com/mangolang/compiler.git mango
+	cd mango  # choose the directory that you downloaded the code to
+	# After this, I'll assume $PWD is the location of `mango`.
+
+* The compiler is written in Rust. If you don't have `rustup` yet, install it with instructions `on this page`_. Then
+
+.. code:: bash
+
+	rustup toolchain install nightly
+	rustup override set nightly  # make sure you are in the mango directory
+	rustup target add wasm32-unknown-emscripten  # emscritem for now
+	
+* We need a few packages:
+
+.. code:: bash
+
+	rustup component add rustfmt-preview
+	cargo install cargo-web
+
+* There are git commit hooks that you can use. They test that code is formatted well and compiles and commit messages are correctly formatted. You don't have to use them if you ensure these things yourself. If you want to use them:
+
+.. code:: bash
+
+	git config core.hooksPath $PWD/dev/hooks/
+	# on git versions older than 2.9, use (from mango directory):
+	rm -rf .git/hooks
+	ln -s $PWD/dev/hooks/ .git/hooks
+	chmod u+x .git/hooks
+
+* The first build will be slow due to downloading and compiling dependencies. To format the code, test it, and launch the command line interface:
+
+.. code:: bash
+
+	cargo +nightly fmt
+	cargo test --all
+	cargo run --bin mango-cli
+
+* To deploy the web version in release mode:
+
+.. code:: bash
+
+	cargo web deploy --release
+	# then open target/deploy/index.html in a browser
+
+* You're now ready to make changes! If you want to help, you're very welcome! Have a glance at CONTRIBUTING.rst_ if you have a minute.
+
+* For IDEs, Rust support isn't on the level of e.g. Java yet, but JetBrain's CLion_ with `Rust plugin`_ is not bad if you have a license.
+
+.. _CLion: https://www.jetbrains.com/clion/
+.. _`Rust plugin`: https://intellij-rust.github.io/
+.. _`on this page`: https://www.rust-lang.org/en-US/install.html
+.. _CONTRIBUTING.rst: https://github.com/mangolang/compiler/blob/dev/CONTRIBUTING.rst
diff --git a/dev/hooks/utils/message_validation.py b/dev/hooks/utils/message_validation.py
index 88cba7cd..73404468 100644
--- a/dev/hooks/utils/message_validation.py
+++ b/dev/hooks/utils/message_validation.py
@@ -24,6 +24,8 @@ def __init__(self, msg):
 
 
 def validate_title(title):
+	if not title:
+		raise ValidationError('Commit message should have at least one line (the title), with any hash(#) appearing at the end')
 	if title[0] in string.ascii_lowercase:
 		raise ValidationError('Commit message title should start with a capital letter')
 	if title[-1] == '.':