diff --git a/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/porters-handbook/book.sgml b/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/porters-handbook/book.sgml
index e3bc70d1bf..0d770a4552 100644
--- a/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/porters-handbook/book.sgml
+++ b/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/porters-handbook/book.sgml
@@ -758,7 +758,8 @@ post-extract:
 	  gzip'd tarball named something like
 	  <filename>foozolix-1.2.tar.gz</filename>? If so, you can go on
 	  to the next step.  If not, you should look at overriding any of
-	  the <makevar>DISTNAME</makevar>, <makevar>EXTRACT_CMD</makevar>,
+	  the <makevar>DISTVERSION</makevar>, <makevar>DISTNAME</makevar>,
+          <makevar>EXTRACT_CMD</makevar>,
 	  <makevar>EXTRACT_BEFORE_ARGS</makevar>,
 	  <makevar>EXTRACT_AFTER_ARGS</makevar>,
 	  <makevar>EXTRACT_SUFX</makevar>, or <makevar>DISTFILES</makevar>
@@ -2096,7 +2097,7 @@ PORTEPOCH=      1</programlisting>
 	they can be downloaded from.</para>
 
       <sect2>
-	<title><makevar>DISTNAME</makevar></title>
+	<title><makevar>DISTVERSION/DISTNAME</makevar></title>
 
 	<para><makevar>DISTNAME</makevar> is the name of the port as
 	  called by the authors of the software.
@@ -2110,6 +2111,43 @@ PORTEPOCH=      1</programlisting>
 	  subdirectory named <makevar>WRKSRC</makevar>, which defaults
 	  to <filename>work/<makevar>${DISTNAME}</makevar></filename>.</para>
 
+        <para>Some vendor's distribution names which do not fit into the
+	  <literal>${PORTNAME}-${PORTVERSION}</literal>-scheme can be handled
+	  automatically by setting <makevar>DISTVERSION</makevar>.
+	  <makevar>PORTVERSION</makevar> and <makevar>DISTNAME</makevar> will be
+	  derived automatically, but can of course be overridden.  The following
+	  table lists some examples:</para>
+
+	<informaltable frame="none" pgwide="1">
+	  <tgroup cols="2">
+	    <thead>
+	      <row>
+		<entry><makevar>DISTVERSION</makevar></entry>
+		<entry><makevar>PORTVERSION</makevar></entry>
+	      </row>
+	    </thead>
+	    
+	    <tbody>
+	      <row>
+		<entry>0.7.1d</entry>
+		<entry>0.7.1.d</entry>
+	      </row>
+	      <row>
+		<entry>10Alpha3</entry>
+		<entry>10.a3</entry>
+	      </row>
+	      <row>
+		<entry>3Beta7-pre2</entry>
+		<entry>3.b7.p2</entry>
+	      </row>
+	      <row>
+		<entry>8:f_17</entry>
+		<entry>8f.17</entry>
+	      </row>
+	    </tbody>
+	  </tgroup>
+	</informaltable>
+
 	<note>
 	  <para><makevar>PKGNAMEPREFIX</makevar> and
 	    <makevar>PKGNAMESUFFIX</makevar> do not affect