diff --git a/sys/conf/newvers.sh b/sys/conf/newvers.sh
--- a/sys/conf/newvers.sh
+++ b/sys/conf/newvers.sh
@@ -311,6 +311,14 @@
 
 vers_content_new=$(cat << EOF
 $COPYRIGHT
+/*
+ * The SCCS stuff is a marker that by convention identifies the kernel.  While
+ * the convention originated with SCCS, the current use is more generic and is
+ * used by different organizations to identify the kernel, the crash dump,
+ * etc. The what(1) utility prints these markers. Better methods exist, so this
+ * method is deprecated and will be removed in a future version of FreeBSD. Orgs
+ * that use it are encouraged to migrate before then.
+ */
 #define SCCSSTR "@(#)${VERINFO}"
 #define VERSTR "${VERSTR}"
 #define RELSTR "${RELEASE}"