diff --git a/HACKING b/HACKING
index cd6cfb59..931e1d66 100644
--- a/HACKING
+++ b/HACKING
@@ -1,6 +1,11 @@
 * HACKING
 
-Here are some short guidelines for hacking on the 'mu' source code.
+Here are some short guidelines for hacking on the 'mu' source code. Note, this
+is fairly long list. This is not meant to discourage anyone from working on
+the mu source code; I think most of the rules are common sense anyway, and
+some of the more stylistic-aesthetic rules are clearly visible in current
+source code, so as long as any new code 'fits in', it should go a long way in
+satisfying these rules. 
 
 ** Coding style
 
@@ -13,7 +18,7 @@ Here are some short guidelines for hacking on the 'mu' source code.
 
    2. lines must not exceed 80 characters
 
-   3. functions must not exceed 30 lines (there may be rare exceptions), and
+   3. functions must not exceed 50 lines (there may be rare exceptions), and
       30 lines is already pretty long.
 
    4. source files should not exceed 1000 lines
@@ -28,7 +33,7 @@ Here are some short guidelines for hacking on the 'mu' source code.
       declares a function of 'mu_foo_bar (int a);', mu-foo.c implements this.
 
    8. non-global functions *don't* have the module prefix, and are declared
-      static.
+      static. Their names may start with '_'
 
    9. functions have their return type on a separate line before the function
       name
@@ -41,14 +46,7 @@ Here are some short guidelines for hacking on the 'mu' source code.
        not to be freed, 'const char*' should be used instead
 
 
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 #+ Local Variables: ***
 #+ mode:org ***
 #+ End: ***
+