diff --git a/pep-0517.txt b/pep-0517.txt
index a60bb399274..16240bb3865 100644
--- a/pep-0517.txt
+++ b/pep-0517.txt
@@ -378,15 +378,17 @@ Config settings
 
   config_settings
 
-This argument, which is passed to all hooks, is an arbitrary
-dictionary provided as an "escape hatch" for users to pass ad-hoc
-configuration into individual package builds. Build backends MAY
-assign any semantics they like to this dictionary. Build frontends
-SHOULD provide some mechanism for users to specify arbitrary
-string-key/string-value pairs to be placed in this dictionary. For
-example, they might support some syntax like ``--package-config
-CC=gcc``. Build frontends MAY also provide arbitrary other mechanisms
-for users to place entries in this dictionary. For example, ``pip``
+This argument, which is passed to all hooks, is a dictionary that allows users
+to pass additional configuration to backend. Build frontend SHOULD provide
+user interface to specify string-key/string-value pairs to be placed in this
+dictionary. For example, they might support CLI option like ``--package-config
+CC=gcc``, which will be transformed into ``config_settings`` dict like this::
+
+  {
+   "CC": "gcc",
+  }
+
+Some frontends MAY also map legacy options into the dict. For example, ``pip``
 might choose to map a mix of modern and legacy command line arguments
 like::
 
@@ -400,22 +402,13 @@ into a ``config_settings`` dictionary like::
 
   {
    "CC": "gcc",
-   "--global-option": ["--some-global-option"],
-   "--build-option": ["--build-option1", "--build-option2"],
+   "global-option": "--some-global-option"],
+   "build-option": "--build-option1,--build-option2"],
   }
 
-Of course, it's up to users to make sure that they pass options which
-make sense for the particular build backend and package that they are
-building.
-
-The hooks may be called with positional or keyword arguments, so backends
-implementing them should be careful to make sure that their signatures match
-both the order and the names of the arguments above.
-
 All hooks are run with working directory set to the root of the source
-tree, and MAY print arbitrary informational text on stdout and
-stderr. They MUST NOT read from stdin, and the build frontend MAY
-close stdin before invoking the hooks.
+tree, and MAY print to stdout and stderr. They MUST NOT, however, read from
+stdin, and the build frontend MAY close stdin before invoking the hooks.
 
 The build frontend may capture stdout and/or stderr from the backend. If the
 backend detects that an output stream is not a terminal/console (e.g.