diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 17f727f..bdaede9 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -382,50 +382,20 @@ through, so it is self-correcting in practice.
 
 ## Troubleshooting
 
-`error while loading shared libraries`
-    The dynamic binary needs libcurl, json-c and readline at runtime. Install
-    them, or build `solo-static`.
-
-`solo: command not found` after `make install`
-    `/usr/local/bin` is not on your `PATH`, or you installed to
-    `$HOME/.local/bin`.
-
-`pkg-config --cflags libcurl json-c readline` prints nothing
-    The development headers are missing. Install `libcurl4-openssl-dev`,
-    `libjson-c-dev` and `libreadline-dev` (names vary by distro).
-
-`make static` fails with "bytecode stream ... generated with LTO version"
-    Known GCC 14 vs 15 mismatch in the distro libcurl.a. Run `make static-deps`
-    to build a clean libcurl, then `make static` again.
-
-`make static` fails with "cannot find -lcares", or cannot find -lssl, -lz, ...
-    Your distro has no static archives for some of these. `make static-deps`
-    only builds curl and c-ares; ssl, crypto, z, idn2, unistring, readline,
-    ncursesw and json-c must come from the distro as `.a` files.
-
-`make static` fails with undefined references to `ares_*`
-    Either the archives are in the wrong order on the link line (libcares.a must
-    come after libcurl.a), or libcurl.a was built without c-ares in the first
-    place. Check with `nm -u static-deps/libcurl.a | grep ares_`, which should
-    list them, and rebuild with `make static-deps-force`.
-
-`Illegal instruction` from a binary built here, run elsewhere
-    `-march=native`. Rebuild without it:
-    `make CFLAGS="-Wall -Wextra -O2 -std=c99"`.
-
-The model keeps asking for a command that times out
-    The limit is `SOLO_TIMEOUT`, 120 s. Raise it with `SOLO_TIMEOUT=600`, or
-    remind the model to background long jobs and poll.
-
-`request failed` with no output
-    The endpoint rejected the call. Check `/api_key` and `/endpoint`, then
-    `/models` to confirm the endpoint answers and which models it lists.
-    Anything the server returns is printed as-is, so the HTTP error body is
-    usually the explanation.
-
-The transcript looks stale
-    Session state lives in `.solo_sess.json` in the current directory. Run
-    `solo` where you want that conversation, or delete the file to start over.
+| Symptom | What it means | Fix |
+| --- | --- | --- |
+| `error while loading shared libraries` | Dynamic build, runtime libraries absent. | Install libcurl, json-c and readline, or use `solo-static`. |
+| `solo: command not found` after `make install` | `$(PREFIX)/bin` is not on `PATH`. | Add it, or install with `PREFIX=$HOME/.local`. |
+| `pkg-config --cflags libcurl json-c readline` prints nothing | Development headers are missing. | Install `libcurl4-openssl-dev`, `libjson-c-dev`, `libreadline-dev`. |
+| `make static-deps` cannot download a tarball | No network, or every mirror for that file is down. | Retry. It tries c-ares.dev then GitHub for c-ares, curl.se then GitHub for curl. |
+| `make static` says `missing static-deps/libcares.a` | The prerequisite check caught it; the link never started. | `make static-deps`, or `make static-deps-force` if a stale copy is in the way. |
+| `make static` says `cannot find -lssl`, `-lz`, `-lidn2`, ... | The distro ships no static archive for a dependency. | Install the `-dev` packages that ship `.a` files. Only curl and c-ares are built here. |
+| `make static` says `bytecode stream ... generated with LTO version` | The distro `libcurl.a` holds GCC 14 LTO objects a newer linker cannot read. | `make static-deps-force`, then `make static`. |
+| `make static` reports undefined `ares_*` | Either link order, or a libcurl built without c-ares. | Run `nm -u static-deps/libcurl.a \| grep -c ares_`. Zero means the archive is stale or foreign: rebuild with `make static-deps-force`. Nonzero means c-ares is in there and the order is wrong: `CARES_STATIC` must follow `CURL_STATIC`. |
+| `Illegal instruction` on another machine | `-march=native` in the default `CFLAGS`. | `make CFLAGS="-Wall -Wextra -O2 -std=c99"`. |
+| The model keeps hitting the timeout | `SOLO_TIMEOUT`, 120 s by default. | Raise it with `SOLO_TIMEOUT=600`, or have the model background long jobs and poll. |
+| `request failed`, possibly with a JSON body | The endpoint refused the call; the body is printed as-is. | Check `/api_key` and `/endpoint`, then `/models`. |
+| The transcript looks stale | State lives in `.solo_sess.json` in the current directory. | Run `solo` where that conversation lives, or delete the file. |
 
 ## Credits
 
diff --git a/mkstaticdeps.sh b/mkstaticdeps.sh
index 16a6955..b22ad2c 100755
--- a/mkstaticdeps.sh
+++ b/mkstaticdeps.sh
@@ -107,9 +107,12 @@ CURL_STAMP=$OUT/.curl-version
 if fresh "$OUT/libcurl.a" "$CURL_STAMP" "$CURL_VERSION"; then
   echo "libcurl.a $CURL_VERSION present, skipping (FORCE=1 to rebuild)"
 else
+  # curl tags its GitHub releases with underscores in the version (8.22.0 ->
+  # curl-8_22_0), the file name keeps the dots. Verified 2026-10-03.
+  CURL_TAG=$(printf '%s' "$CURL_VERSION" | tr . _)
   fetch "$WORK/curl.tar.xz" \
     "https://curl.se/download/curl-$CURL_VERSION.tar.xz" \
-    "https://github.com/curl/curl/releases/download/curl-$CURL_VERSION/curl-$CURL_VERSION.tar.xz"
+    "https://github.com/curl/curl/releases/download/curl-$CURL_TAG/curl-$CURL_VERSION.tar.xz"
   echo "extracting curl $CURL_VERSION"
   tar xf "$WORK/curl.tar.xz" -C "$WORK"
   cd "$WORK/curl-$CURL_VERSION"