--- hb-install-system.xml 2008-08-07 00:56:26.000000000 -0600
+++ hb-install-system.xml 2008-08-07 02:57:52.000000000 -0600
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 <!-- The content of this document is licensed under the CC-BY-SA license -->
 <!-- See http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5 -->
 
-<!-- $Header: /var/cvsroot/gentoo/xml/htdocs/doc/en/handbook/hb-install-system.xml,v 1.111 2008/05/15 06:56:48 nightmorph Exp $ -->
+<!-- $Header: /var/cvsroot/gentoo/xml/htdocs/doc/en/handbook/hb-install-system.xml,v 1.112 2008/08/07 02:57:52 nightmorph Exp $ -->
 
 <sections>
 
@@ -226,6 +226,37 @@
 </p>
 
 <p>
+Gentoo uses cascading profiles. Each file that defines base defaults for your 
+system, like <c>make.defaults</c>, <c>packages</c>, etc. can inherit the 
+contents of like files from parent directories. Files named <c>parent</c> 
+within the selected profile hierarchy specify which directories contain files 
+to use to assemble the final profile. Values specified in files from profile 
+sub-directories take precedence over values specified at a higher level. 
+</p>
+
+<warn>
+Do <e>not</e> edit the profile files directly. Gentoo provides other ways to 
+customize and extend these settings.
+</warn>
+
+<p>
+</p>
+
+<pre caption="Exploring profile details (optional)">
+# <i>pwd</i>
+../usr/portage/profiles/<keyval id="profile"/>
+# <i>cat parent</i>
+..
+../../../../releases/2008.0
+<comment>(Flat files from both of these directories will be combined, along
+with parents of parents and so on)</comment> 
+# <i>ls ..</i>
+<comment>(Omitted to simplify example)</comment>
+# <i>ls ../../../../releases/2008.0</i>
+make.defaults  packages  parent
+</pre>
+
+<p>
 After viewing the available profiles for your architecture in
 <path>/usr/portage/profiles/</path>, you can use a different one if you wish:
 </p>