diff --git a/Documentation/sparse.txt b/Documentation/sparse.txt
index 1a3bdc27d95e..42f43fa59f24 100644
--- a/Documentation/sparse.txt
+++ b/Documentation/sparse.txt
@@ -73,10 +73,10 @@ recompiled, or use "make C=2" to run sparse on the files whether they need to
 be recompiled or not.  The latter is a fast way to check the whole tree if you
 have already built it.
 
-The optional make variable CHECKFLAGS can be used to pass arguments to sparse.
-The build system passes -Wbitwise to sparse automatically.  To perform
-endianness checks, you may define __CHECK_ENDIAN__:
+The optional make variable CF can be used to pass arguments to sparse.  The
+build system passes -Wbitwise to sparse automatically.  To perform endianness
+checks, you may define __CHECK_ENDIAN__:
 
-        make C=2 CHECKFLAGS="-D__CHECK_ENDIAN__"
+        make C=2 CF="-D__CHECK_ENDIAN__"
 
 These checks are disabled by default as they generate a host of warnings.