diff --git a/.github/workflows/gem-install.yml b/.github/workflows/gem-install.yml
index bdaf9b3d..80f9b504 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/gem-install.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/gem-install.yml
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-name: gem install
+name: native packaging
 concurrency:
   group: "${{github.workflow}}-${{github.ref}}"
   cancel-in-progress: true
diff --git a/.github/workflows/sqlite3-ruby.yml b/.github/workflows/sqlite3-ruby.yml
index 5d4faaba..b9459648 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/sqlite3-ruby.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/sqlite3-ruby.yml
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-name: CI
+name: test suite
 concurrency:
   group: "${{github.workflow}}-${{github.ref}}"
   cancel-in-progress: true
diff --git a/LICENSE-DEPENDENCIES b/LICENSE-DEPENDENCIES
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..a79a03fa
--- /dev/null
+++ b/LICENSE-DEPENDENCIES
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+# Vendored Dependency Licenses
+
+The library `sqlite3-ruby` (which lives at https://github.com/sparklemotion/sqlite3-ruby) may include the source code for `sqlite` (which lives at https://www.sqlite.org/)
+
+`sqlite` source code is licensed under the public domain:
+
+> https://www.sqlite.org/copyright.html
+
+The license terms shipped with `sqlite` are included here for your convenience:
+
+```
+The author disclaims copyright to this source code.  In place of
+a legal notice, here is a blessing:
+
+    May you do good and not evil.
+    May you find forgiveness for yourself and forgive others.
+    May you share freely, never taking more than you give.
+```
+
+Note that these license terms do not apply to the `sqlite3-ruby` library itself.
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 6a1e075c..bb04228f 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -5,12 +5,13 @@
 * Download: http://rubygems.org/gems/sqlite3
 * Documentation: http://www.rubydoc.info/gems/sqlite3
 
-[![Build Status](https://github.com/sparklemotion/sqlite3-ruby/actions/workflows/sqlite3-ruby.yml/badge.svg)](https://github.com/sparklemotion/sqlite3-ruby/actions/workflows/sqlite3-ruby.yml)
+[![Unit tests](https://github.com/sparklemotion/sqlite3-ruby/actions/workflows/sqlite3-ruby.yml/badge.svg)](https://github.com/sparklemotion/sqlite3-ruby/actions/workflows/sqlite3-ruby.yml)
+[![Native packages](https://github.com/sparklemotion/sqlite3-ruby/actions/workflows/gem-install.yml/badge.svg)](https://github.com/sparklemotion/sqlite3-ruby/actions/workflows/gem-install.yml)
 
 
 ## Description
 
-This module allows Ruby programs to interface with the SQLite3 database engine (http://www.sqlite.org). You must have the SQLite engine installed in order to build this module.
+This library allows Ruby programs to use the SQLite3 database engine (http://www.sqlite.org).
 
 Note that this module is only compatible with SQLite 3.6.16 or newer.
 
@@ -43,9 +44,10 @@ end
 db.execute( "select * from numbers" ) do |row|
   p row
 end
+# => ["one", 1]
+#    ["two", 2]
 
 # Create another table with multiple columns
-
 db.execute <<-SQL
   create table students (
     name varchar(50),
@@ -62,34 +64,142 @@ db.execute("INSERT INTO students (name, email, grade, blog)
 db.execute( "select * from students" ) do |row|
   p row
 end
+# => ["Jane", "me@janedoe.com", "A", "http://blog.janedoe.com"]
+```
+
+## Installation
+
+### Native Gems (recommended)
+
+As of v1.5.0 of this library, native (precompiled) gems are available for Ruby 2.6, 2.7, 3.0, and 3.1 on all these platforms:
+
+- `aarch64-linux`
+- `arm-linux`
+- `arm64-darwin`
+- `x64-mingw32` / `x64-mingw-ucrt`
+- `x86-linux`
+- `x86_64-darwin`
+- `x86_64-linux`
+
+If you are using one of these Ruby versions on one of these platforms, the native gem is the recommended way to install sqlite3-ruby.
+
+For example, on a linux system running Ruby 3.1:
+
+``` text
+$ ruby -v
+ruby 3.1.2p20 (2022-04-12 revision 4491bb740a) [x86_64-linux]
+
+$ time gem install sqlite3
+Fetching sqlite3-1.5.0-x86_64-linux.gem
+Successfully installed sqlite3-1.5.0-x86_64-linux
+1 gem installed
+
+real    0m4.274s
+user    0m0.734s
+sys     0m0.165s
 ```
 
-## Compilation and Installation
+#### Avoiding the precompiled native gem
+
+The maintainers strongly urge you to use a native gem if at all possible. It will be a better experience for you and allow us to focus our efforts on improving functionality rather than diagnosing installation issues.
 
-Install SQLite3, enabling the option SQLITE_ENABLE_COLUMN_METADATA (see [www.sqlite.org/compile.html](https://www.sqlite.org/compile.html) for details).
+If you're on a platform that supports a native gem but you want to avoid using it in your project, do one of the following:
 
-Then do the following:
+- If you're not using Bundler, then run `gem install sqlite3 --platform=ruby`
+- If you are using Bundler
+  - version 2.1 or later, then you'll need to run `bundle config set force_ruby_platform true`,
+  - version 2.0 or earlier, then you'll need to run `bundle config force_ruby_platform true`
+
+
+### Compiling the Native Extension
+
+If you are on a platform or version of Ruby that is not covered by the Native Gems, then the vanilla "ruby platform" (non-native) gem will be installed by the `gem install` or `bundle` commands.
+
+
+#### Packaged libsqlite3
+
+By default, as of v1.5.0 of this library, libsqlite3 v3.38.5 is packaged with the gem and will be compiled and used automatically. This takes a bit longer than the native gem, but will provide a modern, well-supported version of libsqlite3.
+
+For example, on a linux system running Ruby 2.5:
+
+``` text
+$ ruby -v
+ruby 2.5.9p229 (2021-04-05 revision 67939) [x86_64-linux]
+
+$ time gem install sqlite3
+Building native extensions. This could take a while...
+Successfully installed sqlite3-1.5.0
+1 gem installed
+
+real    0m20.620s
+user    0m23.361s
+sys     0m5.839s
+```
 
-    ruby setup.rb config
-    ruby setup.rb setup
-    ruby setup.rb install
 
-Alternatively, you can download and install the RubyGem package for
-SQLite3/Ruby (you must have RubyGems and SQLite3 installed, first):
+#### System libsqlite3
 
-    gem install sqlite3
+If you would prefer to build the sqlite3-ruby gem against your system libsqlite3, which requires that you install libsqlite3 and its development files yourself, you may do so by using the `--enable-system-libraries` flag at gem install time.
 
-If you have sqlite3 installed in a non-standard location, you can specify the location of the include and lib files by doing:
+PLEASE NOTE:
 
-    gem install sqlite3 -- --with-sqlite3-include=/opt/local/include \
-      --with-sqlite3-lib=/opt/local/lib
+- only versions of libsqlite3 `>= 3.5.0` are supported,
+- and some library features may depend on how your libsqlite3 was compiled.
+
+For example, on a linux system running Ruby 2.5:
+
+``` text
+$ time gem install sqlite3 -- --enable-system-libraries
+Building native extensions with: '--enable-system-libraries'
+This could take a while...
+Successfully installed sqlite3-1.5.0
+1 gem installed
+
+real    0m4.234s
+user    0m3.809s
+sys     0m0.912s
+```
+
+If you're using bundler, you can opt into system libraries like this:
+
+``` sh
+bundle config build.sqlite3 --enable-system-libraries
+```
+
+If you have sqlite3 installed in a non-standard location, you may need to specify the location of the include and lib files by using `--with-sqlite-include` and `--with-sqlite-lib` options (or a `--with-sqlite-dir` option, see [MakeMakefile#dir_config](https://ruby-doc.org/stdlib-3.1.1/libdoc/mkmf/rdoc/MakeMakefile.html#method-i-dir_config)). If you have pkg-config installed and configured properly, this may not be necessary.
+
+``` sh
+gem install sqlite3 -- \
+  --enable-system-libraries \
+  --with-sqlite3-include=/opt/local/include \
+  --with-sqlite3-lib=/opt/local/lib
+```
+
+
+#### System libsqlcipher
+
+If you'd like to link against a system-installed libsqlcipher, you may do so by using the `--with-sqlcipher` flag:
+
+``` text
+$ time gem install sqlite3 -- --with-sqlcipher
+Building native extensions with: '--with-sqlcipher'
+This could take a while...
+Successfully installed sqlite3-1.5.0
+1 gem installed
+
+real    0m4.772s
+user    0m3.906s
+sys     0m0.896s
+```
+
+If you have sqlcipher installed in a non-standard location, you may need to specify the location of the include and lib files by using `--with-sqlite-include` and `--with-sqlite-lib` options (or a `--with-sqlite-dir` option, see [MakeMakefile#dir_config](https://ruby-doc.org/stdlib-3.1.1/libdoc/mkmf/rdoc/MakeMakefile.html#method-i-dir_config)). If you have pkg-config installed and configured properly, this may not be necessary.
 
 
 ## Support
 
 ### Something has gone wrong! Where do I get help?
 
-The best place to get help is from the
+You can ask for help or support from the
 [sqlite3-ruby mailing list](http://groups.google.com/group/sqlite3-ruby) which
 can be found here:
 
@@ -98,7 +208,7 @@ can be found here:
 
 ### I've found a bug! How do I report it?
 
-After contacting the mailing list, you've found that you've actually discovered a bug. You can file the bug at the [github issues page](https://github.com/sparklemotion/sqlite3-ruby/issues) which can be found here:
+After contacting the mailing list, you've found that you've uncovered a bug. You can file the bug at the [github issues page](https://github.com/sparklemotion/sqlite3-ruby/issues) which can be found here:
 
 > https://github.com/sparklemotion/sqlite3-ruby/issues
 
@@ -108,8 +218,16 @@ After contacting the mailing list, you've found that you've actually discovered
 For help figuring out the SQLite3/Ruby interface, check out the SYNOPSIS as well as the RDoc. It includes examples of usage. If you have any questions that you feel should be addressed in the FAQ, please send them to [the mailing list](http://groups.google.com/group/sqlite3-ruby).
 
 
-## Source Code
+## Contributing
+
+See [`CONTRIBUTING.md`](./CONTRIBUTING.md).
+
+
+## License
+
+This library is licensed under `BSD-3-Clause`, see [`LICENSE`](./LICENSE).
+
 
-The source repository is accessible via git:
+### Dependencies
 
-    git clone git://github.com/sparklemotion/sqlite3-ruby.git
+The source code of `sqlite` is distributed in the "ruby platform" gem. This code is public domain, see [`LICENSE-DEPENDENCIES`](./LICENSE-DEPENDENCIES) for details.
diff --git a/sqlite3.gemspec b/sqlite3.gemspec
index 3e4af5aa..662cfd5a 100644
--- a/sqlite3.gemspec
+++ b/sqlite3.gemspec
@@ -42,6 +42,7 @@ Gem::Specification.new do |s|
     "ChangeLog.cvs",
     "Gemfile",
     "LICENSE",
+    "LICENSE-DEPENDENCIES",
     "README.md",
     "ext/sqlite3/aggregator.c",
     "ext/sqlite3/aggregator.h",