diff --git a/chapter08/udev.xml b/chapter08/udev.xml
index 967b3dd84..b4ecbe656 100644
--- a/chapter08/udev.xml
+++ b/chapter08/udev.xml
@@ -126,9 +126,10 @@ meson setup \
     </variablelist>
 
     <para>Get the list of the shipped udev helpers and save it into an
-    environment variable:</para>
+    environment variable (exporting it is not strictly necessary, but it makes
+    building as a regular user or using a package manager easier):</para>
 
-    <screen><userinput remap="make">udev_helpers=$(grep "'name' :" ../src/udev/meson.build | \
+    <screen><userinput remap="make">export udev_helpers=$(grep "'name' :" ../src/udev/meson.build | \
                awk '{print $3}' | tr -d ",'" | grep -v 'udevadm')</userinput></screen>
 
     <para>Only build the components needed for udev:</para>