diff --git a/documentation/ref-manual/ref-tasks.xml b/documentation/ref-manual/ref-tasks.xml
index f05d0f8eb7..66c219372a 100644
--- a/documentation/ref-manual/ref-tasks.xml
+++ b/documentation/ref-manual/ref-tasks.xml
@@ -460,18 +460,25 @@
         <title><filename>do_populate_sysroot</filename></title>
 
         <para>
-            Copies a subset of the files installed by the
+            Stages (copies) a subset of the files installed by the
             <link linkend='ref-tasks-install'><filename>do_install</filename></link>
-            task into the sysroot directory
-            <filename>${</filename><link linkend='var-STAGING_DIR_HOST'><filename>STAGING_DIR_HOST</filename></link><filename>}</filename>
-            to make them available to other recipes.
-            Files that would typically not be needed by other recipes at build
-            time are skipped.
-            Skipped files include files installed into
-            <filename>/etc.</filename>
-            For information on what files are copied, see the
-            <link linkend='ref-classes-staging'><filename>staging</filename></link>
-            class.
+            task into the appropriate sysroot.
+            For information on how to make these files available to other
+            recipes, see the
+            <link linkend='var-STAGING_DIR_HOST'><filename>STAGING_DIR_HOST</filename></link>
+            variable.
+            Directories that would typically not be needed by other recipes at
+            build time (e.g. <filename>/etc</filename>) are not copied by
+            default.
+        </para>
+
+        <para>
+            For information on what directories are copied by default, see the
+            <link linkend='var-SYSROOT_DIRS'><filename>SYSROOT_DIRS*</filename></link>
+            variables.
+            You can change these variables inside your recipe if you need
+            to make additional (or fewer) directories available to other
+            recipes at build time.
         </para>
 
         <para>