diff --git a/man7/cgroups.7 b/man7/cgroups.7
index 241cb17be..ceb7409bf 100644
--- a/man7/cgroups.7
+++ b/man7/cgroups.7
@@ -403,16 +403,44 @@ Note that files in a cgroup directory cannot and need not be
 removed.
 .\"
 .SS Cgroups v1 release notification
-A special file in each cgroup hierarchy,
+Two files can be used to determine whether the kernel provides
+notifications when a cgroup becomes empty.
+A cgroup is considered to be empty when it contains no child
+cgroups and no member processes.
+
+A special file in the root directory of each cgroup hierarchy,
 .IR release_agent ,
-can be used to register a program to handle cgroups which become newly empty.
-The program will be called each time a cgroup marked for
-autoremove becomes empty and childless.
-The cgroup path will be provided as the first command-line argument.
-The cgroup must be marked as eligible for autoremove by writing '1' into its
+can be used to register the pathname of a program that may be invoked when
+a cgroup in the hierarchy becomes empty.
+The pathname of the newly empty cgroup (relative to the cgroup mount point)
+is provided as the sole command-line argument when the
+.IR release_agent
+program is invoked.
+The
+.IR release_agent
+program might remove the cgroup directory,
+or perhaps repopulate with a process.
+
+The default value of the
+.IR release_agent
+file is empty, meaning that no release agent is invoked.
+
+Whether or not the
+.IR release_agent
+program is invoked when a particular cgroup becomes empty is determined
+by the value in the
 .IR notify_on_release
-file;
-this value is inherited by newly created child cgroups.
+file in the corresponding cgroup directory.
+If this file contains the value 0, then the
+.IR release_agent
+program is not invoked.
+If it contains the value 1, the
+.IR release_agent
+program is invoked.
+The default value for this file in the root cgroup is 0.
+At the time when a new cgroup is created,
+the value in this file is inherited from the corresponding file
+in the parent cgroup.
 .\"
 .SS Cgroups version 2
 In cgroups v2,