-** When you are trying to analyze failed assertions, it will be
-essential to compile Emacs either completely without optimizations or
-at least (when using GCC) with the -fno-crossjumping option. Failure
-to do so may make the compiler recycle the same abort call for all
-assertions in a given function, rendering the stack backtrace useless
-for identifying the specific failed assertion.
+Some GDB versions by default do not automatically load .gdbinit files
+in the directory where you invoke GDB. With those versions of GDB,
+you will see a warning when GDB starts, like this:
+
+ warning: File ".../src/.gdbinit" auto-loading has been declined by your `auto-load safe-path' set to "$debugdir:$datadir/auto-load".
+
+There are several ways to overcome that difficulty, they are all
+described in the node "Auto-loading safe path" in the GDB user
+manual. If nothing else helps, type "source /path/to/.gdbinit RET" at
+the GDB prompt, to unconditionally load the GDB init file.
+
+** When you are trying to analyze failed assertions or backtraces, it
+is essential to compile Emacs with flags suitable for debugging.
+With GCC 4.8 or later, you can invoke 'make' with CFLAGS="-Og -g3".
+With older GCC or non-GCC compilers, you can use CFLAGS="-O0 -g3".
+With GCC and higher optimization levels such as -O2, the
+-fno-omit-frame-pointer and -fno-crossjumping options are often
+essential. The latter prevents GCC from using the same abort call for
+all assertions in a given function, rendering the stack backtrace
+useless for identifying the specific failed assertion.