diff --git a/doc/xml/release.xml b/doc/xml/release.xml
index b10bfb3ea..ec36fd472 100644
--- a/doc/xml/release.xml
+++ b/doc/xml/release.xml
@@ -47,6 +47,20 @@
                     </release-item>
                 </release-improvement-list>
             </release-core-list>
+
+            <release-doc-list>
+                <release-improvement-list>
+                    <release-item>
+                        <release-item-contributor-list>
+                            <release-item-ideator id="dr-kd"/>
+                            <release-item-contributor id="david.steele"/>
+                            <release-item-reviewer id="stefan.fercot"/>
+                        </release-item-contributor-list>
+
+                        <p>Clarify preference to install from packages in the user guide.</p>
+                    </release-item>
+                </release-improvement-list>
+            </release-doc-list>
         </release>
 
         <release date="2023-05-22" version="2.46" title="Block Incremental Backup and SFTP Storage">
@@ -12408,6 +12422,11 @@
             <contributor-id type="github">hunleyd</contributor-id>
         </contributor>
 
+        <contributor id="dr-kd">
+            <contributor-name-display>dr-kd</contributor-name-display>
+            <contributor-id type="github">dr-kd</contributor-id>
+        </contributor>
+
         <contributor id="efremov.egor">
             <contributor-name-display>Efremov Egor</contributor-name-display>
             <contributor-id type="github">kolbasky</contributor-id>
diff --git a/doc/xml/user-guide.xml b/doc/xml/user-guide.xml
index 08343bc85..1440271de 100644
--- a/doc/xml/user-guide.xml
+++ b/doc/xml/user-guide.xml
@@ -558,7 +558,13 @@
 
     <!-- ======================================================================================================================= -->
     <block-define if="'{[package]}' eq 'none'" id="br-install">
-        <p><backrest/> needs to be installed from a package or installed manually as shown here.</p>
+        <p>Installing <backrest/> from a package is preferable to building from source. When installing from a package the rest of the instructions in this section are generally not required, but it is possible that a package will skip creating one of the directories or apply incorrect permissions. In that case it may be necessary to manually create directories or update permissions.</p>
+
+        <p if="{[os-type-is-debian]}">{[user-guide-os]} packages for <backrest/> are available at <link url="https://www.postgresql.org/download/linux/ubuntu/">apt.postgresql.org</link>.</p>
+
+        <p if="{[os-type-is-rhel]}">{[user-guide-os]} packages for <backrest/> are available from <link url="{[crunchy-url-base]}">Crunchy Data</link> or <link url="http://yum.postgresql.org">yum.postgresql.org</link>.</p>
+
+        <p>If packages are not provided for your distribution/version you can <link section="/build">build from source</link> and then install manually as shown here.</p>
 
         <execute-list host="{[br-install-host]}">
             <title>Install dependencies</title>
@@ -978,9 +984,7 @@
     <section if="'{[package]}' eq 'none'" id="build">
         <title>Build</title>
 
-        <p if="{[os-type-is-debian]}">{[user-guide-os]} packages for <backrest/> are available at <link url="https://www.postgresql.org/download/linux/ubuntu/">apt.postgresql.org</link>. If they are not provided for your distribution/version it is easy to download the source and install manually.</p>
-
-        <p if="{[os-type-is-rhel]}">{[user-guide-os]} packages for <backrest/> are available from <link url="{[crunchy-url-base]}">Crunchy Data</link> or <link url="http://yum.postgresql.org">yum.postgresql.org</link>, but it is also easy to download the source and install manually.</p>
+        <p>Installing <backrest/> from a package is preferable to building from source. See <link section="/installation">Installation</link> for more information about packages.</p>
 
         <host-add id="{[host-build-id]}" name="{[host-build]}" user="{[host-build-user]}" image="{[host-build-image]}" os="{[os-type]}" mount="{[host-build-mount]}" option="{[host-option]}"/>