diff --git a/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/ports/chapter.xml b/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/ports/chapter.xml
--- a/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/ports/chapter.xml
+++ b/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/ports/chapter.xml
@@ -872,6 +872,14 @@
 	downloads a new copy of the Ports Collection.  The key is used
 	to verify the integrity of all downloaded files.</para>
 
+      <para>Note that <application>Portsnap</application updates are
+	generated from a snapshot of HEAD, and cannot be configured to
+	use a different (for example, quarterly) branch of the Ports
+	Collection.  If it is necessary to use a different branch of the
+	Ports Collection (as indicated earlier with regard to using the
+	Ports Collection in conjunction with binary packages), the
+	Subversion Method must be used.</para>
+
       <step>
 	<para>To download a compressed snapshot of the Ports
 	  Collection into