diff --git a/Changes.md b/Changes.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..05f54b81da
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Changes.md
@@ -0,0 +1,105 @@
+# Build System Changes for Android.mk Writers
+
+## Deprecating envsetup.sh variables in Makefiles
+
+It is not required to source envsetup.sh before running a build. Many scripts,
+including a majority of our automated build systems, do not do so. Make will
+transparently make every environment variable available as a make variable.
+This means that relying on environment variables only set up in envsetup.sh will
+produce different output for local users and scripted users.
+
+Many of these variables also include absolute path names, which we'd like to
+keep out of the generated files, so that you don't need to do a full rebuild if
+you move the source tree.
+
+To fix this, we're marking the variables that are set in envsetup.sh as
+deprecated in the makefiles. This will trigger a warning every time one is read
+(or written) inside Kati. Once all the warnings have been removed, we'll switch
+this to obsolete, and any references will become errors.
+
+### envsetup.sh variables with make equivalents
+
+| instead of                                                   | use                  |
+|--------------------------------------------------------------|----------------------|
+| OUT {#OUT}                                                   | OUT_DIR              |
+| ANDROID_HOST_OUT {#ANDROID_HOST_OUT}                         | HOST_OUT             |
+| ANDROID_PRODUCT_OUT {#ANDROID_PRODUCT_OUT}                   | PRODUCT_OUT          |
+| ANDROID_HOST_OUT_TESTCASES {#ANDROID_HOST_OUT_TESTCASES}     | HOST_OUT_TESTCASES   |
+| ANDROID_TARGET_OUT_TESTCASES {#ANDROID_TARGET_OUT_TESTCASES} | TARGET_OUT_TESTCASES |
+
+All of the make variables may be relative paths from the current directory, or
+absolute paths if the output directory was specified as an absolute path. If you
+need an absolute variable, convert it to absolute during a rule, so that it's
+not expanded into the generated ninja file:
+
+``` make
+$(PRODUCT_OUT)/gen.img: my/src/path/gen.sh
+	export PRODUCT_OUT=$$(cd $(PRODUCT_OUT); pwd); cd my/src/path; ./gen.sh -o $${PRODUCT_OUT}/gen.img
+```
+
+### ANDROID_BUILD_TOP  {#ANDROID_BUILD_TOP}
+
+In Android.mk files, you can always assume that the current directory is the
+root of the source tree, so this can just be replaced with '.' (which is what
+$TOP is hardcoded to), or removed entirely. If you need an absolute path, see
+the instructions above.
+
+### Stop using PATH directly  {#PATH}
+
+This isn't only set by envsetup.sh, but it is modified by it. Due to that it's
+rather easy for this to change between different shells, and it's not ideal to
+reread the makefiles every time this changes.
+
+In most cases, you shouldn't need to touch PATH at all. When you need to have a
+rule reference a particular binary that's part of the source tree or outputs,
+it's preferrable to just use the path to the file itself (since you should
+already be adding that as a dependency).
+
+Depending on the rule, passing the file path itself may not be feasible due to
+layers of unchangable scripts/binaries. In that case, be sure to add the
+dependency, but modify the PATH within the rule itself:
+
+``` make
+$(TARGET): myscript my/path/binary
+	PATH=my/path:$$PATH myscript -o $@
+```
+
+### Stop using PYTHONPATH directly  {#PYTHONPATH}
+
+Like PATH, this isn't only set by envsetup.sh, but it is modified by it. Due to
+that it's rather easy for this to change between different shells, and it's not
+ideal to reread the makefiles every time.
+
+The best solution here is to start switching to Soong's python building support,
+which packages the python interpreter, libraries, and script all into one file
+that no longer needs PYTHONPATH. See fontchain_lint for examples of this:
+
+* [external/fonttools/Lib/fontTools/Android.bp] for python_library_host
+* [frameworks/base/Android.bp] for python_binary_host
+* [frameworks/base/data/fonts/Android.mk] to execute the python binary
+
+If you still need to use PYTHONPATH, do so within the rule itself, just like
+path:
+
+``` make
+$(TARGET): myscript.py $(sort $(shell find my/python/lib -name '*.py'))
+	PYTHONPATH=my/python/lib:$$PYTHONPATH myscript.py -o $@
+```
+
+### Other envsetup.sh variables  {#other_envsetup_variables}
+
+* ANDROID_TOOLCHAIN
+* ANDROID_TOOLCHAIN_2ND_ARCH
+* ANDROID_DEV_SCRIPTS
+* ANDROID_EMULATOR_PREBUILTS
+* ANDROID_PRE_BUILD_PATHS
+
+These are all exported from envsetup.sh, but don't have clear equivalents within
+the makefile system. If you need one of them, you'll have to set up your own
+version.
+
+
+[build/soong/Changes.md]: https://android.googlesource.com/platform/build/soong/+/master/Changes.md
+[external/fonttools/Lib/fontTools/Android.bp]: https://android.googlesource.com/platform/external/fonttools/+/master/Lib/fontTools/Android.bp
+[frameworks/base/Android.bp]: https://android.googlesource.com/platform/frameworks/base/+/master/Android.bp
+[frameworks/base/data/fonts/Android.mk]: https://android.googlesource.com/platform/frameworks/base/+/master/data/fonts/Android.mk
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..47809a95ac
--- /dev/null
+++ b/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+# Android Make Build System
+
+This is the Makefile-based portion of the Android Build System.
+
+For documentation on how to run a build, see [Usage.txt](Usage.txt)
+
+For a list of behavioral changes useful for Android.mk writers see
+[Changes.md](Changes.md)
+
+For an outdated reference on Android.mk files, see
+[build-system.html](/core/build-system.html). Our Android.mk files look similar,
+but are entirely different from the Android.mk files used by the NDK build
+system. When searching for documentation elsewhere, ensure that it is for the
+platform build system -- most are not.
+
+This Makefile-based system is in the process of being replaced with [Soong], a
+new build system written in Go. During the transition, all of these makefiles
+are read by [Kati], and generate a ninja file instead of being executed
+directly. That's combined with a ninja file read by Soong so that the build
+graph of the two systems can be combined and run as one.
+
+[Kati]: https://github.com/google/kati
+[Soong]: https://android.googlesource.com/platform/build/soong/+/master
diff --git a/README.txt b/Usage.txt
similarity index 100%
rename from README.txt
rename to Usage.txt
diff --git a/core/config.mk b/core/config.mk
index bebc18645b..ba0e9e0549 100644
--- a/core/config.mk
+++ b/core/config.mk
@@ -59,7 +59,24 @@ backslash := $(patsubst %a,%,$(backslash))
 .DELETE_ON_ERROR:
 
 # Mark variables deprecated/obsolete
-$(KATI_deprecated_var PATH,Do not use PATH directly)
+CHANGES_URL := https://android.googlesource.com/platform/build/+/master/Changes.md
+$(KATI_deprecated_var PATH,Do not use PATH directly. See $(CHANGES_URL)#PATH)
+$(KATI_deprecated_var PYTHONPATH,Do not use PYTHONPATH directly. See $(CHANGES_URL)#PYTHONPATH)
+$(KATI_deprecated_var OUT,Use OUT_DIR instead. See $(CHANGES_URL)#OUT)
+$(KATI_deprecated_var ANDROID_HOST_OUT,Use HOST_OUT instead. See $(CHANGES_URL)#ANDROID_HOST_OUT)
+$(KATI_deprecated_var ANDROID_PRODUCT_OUT,Use PRODUCT_OUT instead. See $(CHANGES_URL)#ANDROID_PRODUCT_OUT)
+$(KATI_deprecated_var ANDROID_HOST_OUT_TESTCASES,Use HOST_OUT_TESTCASES instead. See $(CHANGES_URL)#ANDROID_HOST_OUT_TESTCASES)
+$(KATI_deprecated_var ANDROID_TARGET_OUT_TESTCASES,Use TARGET_OUT_TESTCASES instead. See $(CHANGES_URL)#ANDROID_TARGET_OUT_TESTCASES)
+$(KATI_deprecated_var ANDROID_BUILD_TOP,Use '.' instead. See $(CHANGES_URL)#ANDROID_BUILD_TOP)
+$(KATI_deprecated_var \
+  ANDROID_TOOLCHAIN \
+  ANDROID_TOOLCHAIN_2ND_ARCH \
+  ANDROID_DEV_SCRIPTS \
+  ANDROID_EMULATOR_PREBUILTS \
+  ANDROID_PRE_BUILD_PATHS \
+  ,See $(CHANGES_URL)#other_envsetup_variables)
+
+CHANGES_URL :=
 
 # Used to force goals to build.  Only use for conditionally defined goals.
 .PHONY: FORCE
diff --git a/help.sh b/help.sh
index c031dcc7ed..3f39c771ca 100755
--- a/help.sh
+++ b/help.sh
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ lunch [<product>-<variant>] # Choose the device to target.
 m -j [<goals>]              # Execute the configured build.
 
 Usage of "m" imitates usage of the program "make".
-See '"${SCRIPT_DIR}"'/README.txt for more info about build usage and concepts.
+See '"${SCRIPT_DIR}"'/Usage.txt for more info about build usage and concepts.
 
 Common goals are:
 
diff --git a/navbar.md b/navbar.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..e218a78ed8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/navbar.md
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+* [Home](/README.md)
+* [Usage](/Usage.txt)
+* [Changes](/Changes.md)
+* [Outdated Reference](/core/build-system.html)