diff --git a/docs/README.md b/docs/README.md
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--- a/docs/README.md
+++ b/docs/README.md
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@
 * [Source code directory structure](development/source-code-directory-structure.md)
 * [Build instructions (Mac)](development/build-instructions-mac.md)
 * [Build instructions (Windows)](development/build-instructions-windows.md)
+* [Build instructions (Linux)](development/build-instructions-linux.md)
 
 ## API References
 
diff --git a/docs/development/build-instructions-linux.md b/docs/development/build-instructions-linux.md
new file mode 100644
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@@ -0,0 +1,65 @@
+# Build instructions (Linux)
+
+## Prerequisites
+
+* [node.js](http://nodejs.org)
+* clang
+
+## Getting the code
+
+```bash
+$ git clone https://github.com/atom/atom-shell.git
+```
+
+## Bootstrapping
+
+The bootstrap script will download all necessary build dependencies and create
+build project files. Notice that we're using `ninja` to build `atom-shell` so
+there is no `Makefile` generated.
+
+```bash
+$ cd atom-shell
+$ ./script/bootstrap.py
+```
+
+## Building
+
+Build both `Release` and `Debug` targets:
+
+```bash
+$ ./script/build.py
+```
+
+You can also only build the `Debug` target:
+
+```bash
+$ ./script/build.py -c Debug
+```
+
+After building is done, you can find `Atom.app` under `out/Debug`.
+
+## Troubleshooting
+
+If you got an error like this:
+
+````
+In file included from /usr/include/stdio.h:28:0,
+                 from ../../../svnsrc/libgcc/../gcc/tsystem.h:88,
+                 from ../../../svnsrc/libgcc/libgcc2.c:29:
+/usr/include/features.h:324:26: fatal error: bits/predefs.h: No such file or directory
+ #include <bits/predefs.h>
+````
+
+Then you need to install `gcc-multilib` and `g++-multilib`, on Ubuntu you can do
+this:
+
+```bash
+sudo apt-get install gcc-multilib g++-multilib
+```
+
+## Tests
+
+```bash
+$ ./script/test.py
+```
+