diff --git a/documentation/dev-manual/dev-manual-common-tasks.xml b/documentation/dev-manual/dev-manual-common-tasks.xml
index fe198119b7..bdf59de8a6 100644
--- a/documentation/dev-manual/dev-manual-common-tasks.xml
+++ b/documentation/dev-manual/dev-manual-common-tasks.xml
@@ -146,7 +146,10 @@
If the layer adds distro policy, add the distro configuration in a
conf/distro/ file with the layer.
If the layer introduces new recipes, put the recipes you need in
- recipes-* subdirectories within the layer.
+ recipes-* subdirectories within the layer.
+ In order to be compliant with the Yocto Project, a layer must contain
+ a README file.
+