diff --git a/README.rst b/README.rst
index 4afbd2a20..018b343fd 100644
--- a/README.rst
+++ b/README.rst
@@ -121,12 +121,20 @@ email to client-dev+subscribe@letsencrypt.org)
 System Requirements
 ===================
 
-The Let's Encrypt client presently only runs on Unix-ish OSes that include
+The Let's Encrypt Client presently only runs on Unix-ish OSes that include
 Python 2.6 or 2.7; Python 3.x support will be added after the Public Beta
-launch.
+launch. The client requires root access in order to write to
+``/etc/letsencrypt``, ``/var/log/letsencrypt``, ``/var/lib/letsencrypt``; to
+bind to ports 80 and 443 (if you use the ``standalone`` plugin) and to read and
+modify webserver configurations (if you use the ``apache`` or ``nginx``
+plugins).  If none of these apply to you, it is theoretically possible to run
+without root privilegess, but for most users who want to avoid running an ACME
+client as root, either `letsencrypt-nosudo
+<https://github.com/diafygi/letsencrypt-nosudo>`_ or `simp_le
+<https://github.com/kuba/simp_le>`_ are more appropriate choices.
 
-The Apache plugin requires a debian-based OS with augeas version 1.0 or
-higher.
+The Apache plugin currently requires a Debian-based OS with augeas version
+1.0; this includes Ubuntu 12.04+ and Debian 7+.
 
 
 Current Features