diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 8ee4eb5ff19..eda2b226d5d 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -65,6 +65,7 @@ build/CPack*Config.cmake
 
 # VSCode files
 .vscode
+*.code-workspace
 
 # ctags file
 tags
diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index dff1b7fac32..837020bc5bd 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
 cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.18 FATAL_ERROR)
 cmake_policy(SET CMP0048 NEW)
 cmake_policy(SET CMP0074 NEW)
+set(CMAKE_INSTALL_MESSAGE "LAZY")
 
 # set up versioning.
 set(DF_VERSION "53.14")
diff --git a/build/.gitignore b/build/.gitignore
index 11f87d8c3eb..0675a165cf4 100644
--- a/build/.gitignore
+++ b/build/.gitignore
@@ -8,3 +8,4 @@ _CPack_Packages
 .cmake
 win64-cross
 dest
+DF
diff --git a/plugins/CMakeLists.txt b/plugins/CMakeLists.txt
index 355cc0ac4c0..c898e5a7b02 100644
--- a/plugins/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/plugins/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -27,6 +27,10 @@ set_source_files_properties( Brushes.h PROPERTIES HEADER_FILE_ONLY TRUE )
 # Plugins
 # If you are adding a plugin that you do not intend to commit to the DFHack repo,
 # see instructions for adding "external" plugins at the end of this file.
+#
+# CAVEAT: currently (June 2026) DFHack's core code will only autoload plugins from
+# the hack/plugins directory.  They cannot be autoloaded from mod directories.
+# This has been explicit policy for several years.
 
 # Example plugin that uses protobufs
 # proto file must be in the proto/ folder