diff --git a/nixos/doc/manual/release-notes/rl-1703.xml b/nixos/doc/manual/release-notes/rl-1703.xml
index 6be2cd3af7f..aa864b7a757 100644
--- a/nixos/doc/manual/release-notes/rl-1703.xml
+++ b/nixos/doc/manual/release-notes/rl-1703.xml
@@ -30,6 +30,15 @@ has the following highlights: </para>
 following incompatible changes:</para>
 
 <itemizedlist>
+  <listitem>
+    <para>
+      Cross compilation has been rewritten. See the nixpkgs manual for
+      details. The most obvious breaking change is that derivations absent a
+      <literal>.nativeDrv</literal> or <literal>.crossDrv</literal> are now
+      cross by default, not native.
+    </para>
+  </listitem>
+
   <listitem>
     <para>
       <literal>stdenv.overrides</literal> is now expected to take <literal>self</literal>