diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 5171ff657..6ab13f65a 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -303,6 +303,17 @@ in your system configuration and
 
 in your Home Manager configuration.
 
+Releases
+--------
+
+Home Manager is developed against `nixpkgs-unstable` branch, which
+often causes it to contain tweaks for changes/packages not yet
+released in stable NixOS. To avoid breaking users' configurations,
+Home Manager is released in branches corresponding to NixOS releases
+(e.g. `release-19.09`). These branches get fixes, but usually not new
+modules. If you need a module to be backported, then feel free to open
+an issue.
+
 [Bash]: https://www.gnu.org/software/bash/
 [Nix]: https://nixos.org/nix/
 [NixOS]: https://nixos.org/