diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index e68ae43..54862c2 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -7,6 +7,9 @@ run: build
 
 # test using --no-work against ~/go/src
 homeGoSrc: build
+	-rm ~/go/src/go.work*
+	go clean -cache -modcache
+	-rm -rf ../basicwindow/
 	./go-clone --no-work go.wit.com/apps/basicwindow
 
 modernc: build
@@ -20,7 +23,11 @@ no-gui: build
 	./go-clone --no-gui
 
 build:
-	GO111MODULE=off go build -v -ldflags "-X main.VERSION=${VERSION}" -ldflags "-X main.GUIVERSION=${VERSION}"
+	GO111MODULE=off go build -v -ldflags "-X main.Version=${VERSION} -X gui.GUIVERSION=${VERSION}"
+
+build-go-1.21:
+	@#GO111MODULE=off /usr/lib/go-1.21/bin/go build -v -ldflags "-X main.VERSION=${VERSION}"
+	@# GO111MODULE=off /usr/lib/go-1.21/bin/go build -v -ldflags "-X main.Version=${VERSION} -X gui.GUIVERSION=${VERSION}"
 	@# GO111MODULE=off go build -v -ldflags "-X main.GUIVERSION=${VERSION}"
 
 install:
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 380b8c5..b7c50c5 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -1 +1,36 @@
 # go-clone
+5 years earlier, [gohack](https://github.com/rogpeppe/gohack) was written for the same reasons
+this tool was written.  gohack has a good justification for this kind of tool so here it is:
+
+
+## Gohack: mutable checkouts of Go module dependencies
+
+The new Go module system is awesome. It ensures repeatable, deterministic
+builds of Go code. External module code is cached locally in a read-only
+directory, which is great for reproducibility. But if you're used to the
+global mutable namespace that is `$GOPATH`, there's an obvious question:
+what if I'm hacking on my program and I *want* to change one of those
+external modules?
+
+You might want to put a sneaky `log.Printf` statement to find out how
+some internal data structure works, or perhaps try out a bug fix to see
+if it solves your latest problem. But since all those external modules
+are in read-only directories, it's hard to change them. And you really
+don't want to change them anyway, because that will break the integrity
+checking that the Go tool does when building.
+
+Luckily the modules system provides a way around this: you can add a
+`replace` statement to the `go.mod` file which substitutes the contents
+of a directory holding a module for the readonly cached copy. You can of
+course do this manually, but gohack aims to make this process pain-free.
+
+## Install go-glone
+
+	go install go.wit.com/apps/go-clone@latest
+
+## go-glone itself
+
+This will make a work directory and download everything needs to compile
+go-clone.
+
+	go-clone --work go.wit.com/apps/go-clone
diff --git a/argv.go b/argv.go
index 2d22dc7..cfdd3d4 100644
--- a/argv.go
+++ b/argv.go
@@ -7,19 +7,21 @@ package main
 */
 
 type args struct {
-	Repo   string `arg:"positional" help:"go import path"`
-	Work   bool   `arg:"--work"     help:"make a work directory"`
-	NoWork bool   `arg:"--no-work"     help:"does not make a go.work file"`
+	Repo      string `arg:"positional"    help:"go import path"`
+	Work      bool   `arg:"--work"        help:"make a work directory"`
+	NoWork    bool   `arg:"--no-work"     help:"do not make or modify the go.work file"`
+	DryRun    bool   `arg:"--dry-run"     help:"show what would be run"`
+	Recursive bool   `arg:"--recursive"   help:"resursively clone all dependencies"`
 }
 
 func (a args) Description() string {
 	return `
-Example usage: "go-clone go.wit.com/apps/go-clone"
+This will recursively clone the sources for this app into a work/ directory:
 
-This will pull down the go sources and
-the repositories in the go.sum file using git clone`
+go-clone --recursive go.wit.com/apps/go-clone
+`
 }
 
 func (args) Version() string {
-	return "go-clone " + VERSION
+	return "go-clone " + Version
 }
diff --git a/main.go b/main.go
index 6f15a74..93ed536 100644
--- a/main.go
+++ b/main.go
@@ -14,20 +14,16 @@ import (
 	"go.wit.com/log"
 )
 
-var VERSION string
+var Version string
 
 var rv *repolist.RepoList
 var myargs args
 
 func main() {
-	arg.MustParse(&myargs)
+	pp := arg.MustParse(&myargs)
 
 	if myargs.Repo == "" {
-		// tmp.WriteHelp(os.Stdout)
-		// fmt.Println("hello world")
-		tmp := myargs.Description()
-		fmt.Println(tmp)
-		fmt.Println(myargs.Version())
+		pp.WriteHelp(os.Stdout)
 		os.Exit(0)
 	}
 
@@ -61,32 +57,37 @@ func main() {
 	}
 
 	godep := newr.Status.GetGoDeps()
-	for gopath, version := range godep {
-		repo, err := rv.NewRepo(gopath)
-		if err != nil {
-			log.Info("git clone failed for", gopath, version)
-			continue
-		}
-		repo.Status.MakeRedomod()
-	}
-
-	for _, repo := range rv.AllRepos() {
-		if ! repo.Status.Exists("go.mod") {
+	if myargs.Recursive {
+		for gopath, version := range godep {
+			repo, err := rv.NewRepo(gopath)
+			if err != nil {
+				log.Info("git clone failed for", gopath, version)
+				continue
+			}
 			repo.Status.MakeRedomod()
 		}
 	}
 
-	log.Info("all repositories are cloned")
+	var count int
+	for _, repo := range rv.AllRepos() {
+		count += 1
+		if !repo.Status.Exists("go.mod") {
+			repo.Status.MakeRedomod()
+		}
+	}
+
+	log.Info("Total repositories:", count)
 	if !myargs.NoWork {
 		log.Info("Creating", wdir+"/go.work")
 		rv.MakeGoWork()
 		shell.RunPath(wdir, []string{"go", "work", "use"})
 	}
 
-	for _, repo := range rv.AllRepos() {
-		log.Info("found repo", repo.GoPath(), repo.Status.Path())
-	}
-
+	/*
+		for _, repo := range rv.AllRepos() {
+			log.Info("found repo", repo.GoPath(), repo.Status.Path())
+		}
+	*/
 }
 
 // look for or make a go.work file