note that we can only delete chains that are empty

diff --git a/iptables.8.in b/iptables.8.in
index 0288c173caf875c8d98a76daeb000a9d9dd369c1..66800a5a7c5b34edd498c044b796ade751f9850a 100644 (file)
--- a/iptables.8.in
+++ b/iptables.8.in
@@ -222,9 +222,10 @@ target of that name already.
 .TP
 .BR "-X, --delete-chain " "[\fIchain\fP]"
 Delete the optional user-defined chain specified.  There must be no references
-to the chain.  If there are, you must delete or replace the referring
-rules before the chain can be deleted.  If no argument is given, it
-will attempt to delete every non-builtin chain in the table.
+to the chain.  If there are, you must delete or replace the referring rules
+before the chain can be deleted.  The chain must be empty, i.e. not contain
+any rules.  If no argument is given, it will attempt to delete every
+non-builtin chain in the table.
 .TP
 .BI "-P, --policy " "chain target"
 Set the policy for the chain to the given target.  See the section