diff --git a/INSTALL.rst b/INSTALL.rst
index a725d24f4751..d1323ca5c738 100644
--- a/INSTALL.rst
+++ b/INSTALL.rst
@@ -238,16 +238,11 @@ and on Windows:
   - ``qhull``: to compute Delaunay triangulation;
   - ``ttconv``: a TrueType font utility.
 
-.. _build_windows:
-
 Building on Windows
 -------------------
 
-The Python shipped from https://www.python.org is compiled with Visual Studio
-2015 for 3.5+.  Python extensions should be compiled with the same
-compiler, see e.g.
-https://packaging.python.org/guides/packaging-binary-extensions/#binary-extensions-for-windows
-for how to set up a build environment.
+Compiling Matplotlib (or any other extension module, for that matter) requires
+Visual Studio 2015 or later.
 
 If you are building your own Matplotlib wheels (or sdists), note that any DLLs
 that you copy into the source tree will be packaged too.
diff --git a/doc/faq/installing_faq.rst b/doc/faq/installing_faq.rst
index 7777a98eb957..a37f8ed3ecc3 100644
--- a/doc/faq/installing_faq.rst
+++ b/doc/faq/installing_faq.rst
@@ -127,15 +127,6 @@ from the Terminal.app command line::
 You might also want to install IPython or the Jupyter notebook (``python3 -mpip
 install ipython notebook``).
 
-pip problems
-^^^^^^^^^^^^
-
-If you get errors with pip trying to run a compiler like ``gcc`` or ``clang``,
-then the first thing to try is to `install xcode
-<https://guide.macports.org/chunked/installing.html#installing.xcode>`_ and
-retry the install.  If that does not work, then check
-:ref:`reporting-problems`.
-
 Checking your installation
 --------------------------
 
@@ -174,6 +165,12 @@ picked up by other Pythons.  If all these fail, please :ref:`let us know
 Install from source
 ===================
 
+A C compiler is required.  Typically, on Linux, you will need ``gcc``, which
+should be installed using your distribution's package manager; on macOS, you
+will need xcode_; on Windows, you will need Visual Studio 2015 or later.
+
+.. _xcode: https://guide.macports.org/chunked/installing.html#installing.xcode
+
 Clone the main source using one of::
 
    git clone git@github.com:matplotlib/matplotlib.git
@@ -197,9 +194,6 @@ just replace the last step with::
 This creates links and installs the command line script in the appropriate
 places.
 
-.. note::
-   Windows users please see the :ref:`build_windows` guide.
-
 Then, if you want to update your Matplotlib at any time, just do::
 
    git pull