diff --git a/build/bakefiles/common.bkl b/build/bakefiles/common.bkl
index a664210fb0..60082421d6 100644
--- a/build/bakefiles/common.bkl
+++ b/build/bakefiles/common.bkl
@@ -183,8 +183,13 @@
         <set var="CFG_NAME_PART">
             $(PORTNAME)$(WXUNIVNAME)$(WXUNICODEFLAG)$(WXDEBUGFLAG)$(WXDLLFLAG)$(CFG)
         </set>
+
+        <!-- NB: this is make_var so that it can be overriden on command line
+                 like this: nmake -f makefile.vc COMPILER_PREFIX=vc6 -->
+        <set var="COMPILER_PREFIX" make_var="1">$(COMPILER)</set>
+
         <set var="OBJS" make_var="1">
-            $(COMPILER)_$(CFG_NAME_PART)$(DIR_SUFFIX_CPU)
+            $(COMPILER_PREFIX)_$(CFG_NAME_PART)$(DIR_SUFFIX_CPU)
         </set>
 
         <set var="BUILDDIR">$(OBJS)</set>
@@ -200,7 +205,7 @@
     <set var="LIBDIRNAME" make_var="1">
         <if cond="FORMAT=='autoconf'">$(wx_top_builddir)/lib</if>
         <if cond="FORMAT!='autoconf'">
-            $(nativePaths(TOP_SRCDIR))lib$(DIRSEP)$(COMPILER)$(DIR_SUFFIX_CPU)_$(LIBTYPE_SUFFIX)$(CFG)
+            $(nativePaths(TOP_SRCDIR))lib$(DIRSEP)$(COMPILER_PREFIX)$(DIR_SUFFIX_CPU)_$(LIBTYPE_SUFFIX)$(CFG)
         </if>
     </set>
 
diff --git a/docs/msw/install.txt b/docs/msw/install.txt
index e9a68c21b7..6a2efc738a 100644
--- a/docs/msw/install.txt
+++ b/docs/msw/install.txt
@@ -778,6 +778,10 @@ DEBUG_INFO=1
   Same as DEBUG_FLAG in behaviour, this option affects whether debugging
   information is included in the executable or not.
 
+TARGET_CPU=AMD64|IA64
+  (VC++ only.) Set this variable to build for x86_64 systems. If unset, x86
+  build is performed.
+
 VENDOR=<your company name>
   Set this to a short string identifying your company if you are planning to
   distribute wxWidgets DLLs with your application. Default value is 'custom'.
@@ -792,6 +796,14 @@ CFG=<configuration name>
   different setup.h settings coexisting in same tree. See "Object and library
   directories" below for more information.
 
+COMPILER_PREFIX=<string>
+  If you build with multiple versions of the same compiler, you can put
+  their outputs into directories like "vc6_lib", "vc8_lib" etc. instead of
+  "vc_lib" by setting this variable to e.g. "vc6". This is merely a
+  convenience variable, you can achieve the same effect (but different dir
+  names) with the CFG option.
+
+
 Compiler specific options
 ----------------------------------------------------------------