diff --git a/docs/releasenotes.rst b/docs/releasenotes.rst
index 49d7446eb2d1b430554ddc79c2bb510040e90bf0..5efa188eb08722562977ec67013c043f155c18bf 100644
--- a/docs/releasenotes.rst
+++ b/docs/releasenotes.rst
@@ -7,6 +7,15 @@ NEXT RELEASE
 
 Minor improvements and fixes.
 
+Breaking changes:
+
+* ``common`` role:
+
+   * Default values for the ``pip_check_requirements`` have changed to
+     include ``pip`` and ``setuptools`` (and a couple more). It might
+     be necessary to update any customised values of this parameter to
+     match the default set of packages.
+
 Bug fixes:
 
 * ``common`` role