diff --git a/documentation/dev-manual/dev-manual-common-tasks.xml b/documentation/dev-manual/dev-manual-common-tasks.xml
index 8573581caf..7a326543d8 100644
--- a/documentation/dev-manual/dev-manual-common-tasks.xml
+++ b/documentation/dev-manual/dev-manual-common-tasks.xml
@@ -7262,6 +7262,16 @@ Gateways via their Web Interfaces</ulink>"</emphasis>
             </literallayout>
         </para>
 
+        <para>
+            This next example shows how to accomplish the same thing by setting
+            <filename>EXTERNALSRC</filename> in the recipe itself or in the
+            recipe's append file:
+            <literallayout class='monospaced'>
+     EXTERNALSRC = "<replaceable>path</replaceable>"
+     EXTERNALSRC_BUILD = "<replaceable>path</replaceable>"
+            </literallayout>
+        </para>
+
         <para>
             By default, <filename>externalsrc.bbclass</filename> builds
             the source code in a directory separate from the external source