diff --git a/docs/manual/admin/optimization/mysql.rst b/docs/manual/admin/optimization/mysql.rst
index c07488f265efeb5b69f45de6159a322ebe517e2a..8c9988b5b10cf8d83d9db070882e52019ce3f259 100644
--- a/docs/manual/admin/optimization/mysql.rst
+++ b/docs/manual/admin/optimization/mysql.rst
@@ -44,15 +44,22 @@ MySQL Packet Size
 =================
 
 Viewing very large diffs can cause a problem where queries exceed the default
-MySQL packet size (16M). One way around this issue is to change the value of the
-max_allowed_packet variable. To do this, connect to your database using the
-mysql command-line interface:
+MySQL packet size (16MB).
 
-shell$ mysql -- max_allowed_packet=32M
+This can be changed through the ``max_allowed_packet`` configuration variable.
+You can set this on the database by editing :file:`/etc/my.cnf` and setting::
 
-This will set the maximum packet size to 32M.
+    [mysqld]
+    max_allowed_packet=32M
+
+You can set this value to any number you need, in megabytes.
+
+If you only need to set this for a session, such as when dumping your
+database, you can instead pass this on the command line::
+
+    $ mysqldump --max-allowed-packet=32M
 
-However, diffs larger than a megabyte are nearly impossible for ordinary humans
+Diffs larger than a megabyte are nearly impossible for ordinary humans
 to review and can slow down the server in other ways. Reviews with such large
 diffs are almost always caused by some intermediate build step such as
 auto-generated or emitted code. A better solution is to be more careful about