diff --git a/documentation/poky-ref-manual/ref-variables.xml b/documentation/poky-ref-manual/ref-variables.xml
index fc4fb9c5b1..f00f9038bb 100644
--- a/documentation/poky-ref-manual/ref-variables.xml
+++ b/documentation/poky-ref-manual/ref-variables.xml
@@ -379,6 +379,25 @@
             </glossdef>
         </glossentry>
 
+        <glossentry id='var-EXTRA_IMAGEDEPENDS'><glossterm>EXTRA_IMAGEDEPENDS</glossterm>
+            <glossdef>
+                <para>A list of recipes to be built that do not provide packages to be installed in
+                    the root filesystem.
+                </para>
+                <para>Sometimes a recipe is required to build the final image but is not
+                    needed in the root filesystem.
+                    You can use the <filename>EXTRA_IMAGEDEPENDS</filename> variable to 
+                    list these recipes and thus, specify the dependencies. 
+                    A typical example is a required bootloader in a machine configuration.
+                </para>
+                <note>
+                    To add packages to the root filesystem, see the various 
+                    <filename>*DEPENDS</filename> and <filename>*RECOMMENDS</filename>
+                    variables.
+                </note>
+            </glossdef>
+        </glossentry>
+
         <glossentry id='var-EXTRA_OECMAKE'><glossterm>EXTRA_OECMAKE</glossterm>
             <glossdef>
                 <para>Additional <filename>cmake</filename> options.</para>