diff --git a/changes/document_version b/changes/document_version
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..a45992b6b5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changes/document_version
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+  o Documentation:
+    - Document the exact output of "tor --version". Closes ticket 28889.
diff --git a/doc/tor.1.txt b/doc/tor.1.txt
index 44ac1e892d..974a484541 100644
--- a/doc/tor.1.txt
+++ b/doc/tor.1.txt
@@ -89,7 +89,9 @@ COMMAND-LINE OPTIONS
     future version. (This is a warning, not a promise.)
 
 [[opt-version]] **--version**::
-    Display Tor version and exit.
+    Display Tor version and exit. The output is a single line of the format
+    "Tor version [version number]."  (The version number format
+    is as specified in version-spec.txt.)
 
 [[opt-quiet]] **--quiet**|**--hush**::
     Override the default console log.  By default, Tor starts out logging