diff --git a/man/runscript.8 b/man/runscript.8
index d823e330..c4119d9c 100644
--- a/man/runscript.8
+++ b/man/runscript.8
@@ -358,8 +358,8 @@ offset. Otherwise it is undefined.
 .It Va RC_UNAME
 The result of `uname -s`.
 .It Va RC_CMD
-Name of the command like start, stop, restart, ...
-RC_CMD is one way to determine whether it's a restart or normal start/stop.
+This contains the name of the command the init script is executing, such
+as start, stop, restart etc.
 .El
 .Sh FILES
 .Pp
@@ -452,8 +452,22 @@ restart_pre() {
 	...
 }
 
+# This function does any pre-start setup. If it fails, the service will
+# not be started.
+# If you need this function to behave differently for a restart command,
+# you should check the value of RC_CMD for "restart".
+# This also applies to start_post, stop_pre and stop_post.
 start_pre()
 {
+	if [ "$RC_CMD" = restart ]; then
+		# This block will only execute for a restart command. Use a
+		# structure like this if you need special processing for a
+		# restart which you do not need for a normal start.
+		# The function can also fail from here, which will mean that a
+		# restart can fail.
+		# This logic can also be used in start_post, stop_pre and
+		# stop_post.
+	fi
     # Ensure that our dirs are correct
     checkpath --dir --owner foo:foo --mode 0664 \\
 	/var/run/foo /var/cache/foo