diff --git a/lib/libutil/property.3 b/lib/libutil/property.3
index bcd3556116e2..eebdde66cca0 100644
--- a/lib/libutil/property.3
+++ b/lib/libutil/property.3
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@
 .\" (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF
 .\" THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.
 .\" 
-.\" $Id: property.3,v 1.2 1998/10/09 07:33:58 jkh Exp $
+.\" $Id: property.3,v 1.3 1998/10/14 11:04:36 jkh Exp $
 .\" "
 .Dd October 7, 1998
 .Os
@@ -65,9 +65,7 @@ pairs from the file descriptor passed in
 .Fa fd
 and returns the head of a new property list, assuming that the
 file's contents have been parsed properly, or NULL in case
-of error.  The property list pointer should be passed to
-.Fn properties_free
-when no longer needed.
+of error.
 .Pp
 .Fn property_find
 Returns the associated value string for the property named
@@ -78,7 +76,22 @@ if found, otherwise NULL.
 is used to free the structure returned by
 .Fn properties_read
 when it is no longer needed.
+.Pp
+.Sh FILE FORMAT
+Each property in the file is assumed to have the format of
+.Fa name = value
+where
+.Fa name
+is an alphanumeric string (and any punctuation not including the `=' character) 
+and
+.Fa value
+is an arbitary string of text terminated by a newline character.  If newlines
+are desired, the entire value should be enclosed in { } (curly-bracket)
+characters.  Any line beginning with a # or ; character is assumed to
+be a comment and will be ignored.
 .Sh SEE ALSO
 .Xr auth_getval 3
 .Sh BUGS
 Simplistic.
+.Sh AUTHOR
+Jordan Hubbard
diff --git a/lib/libutil/property.c b/lib/libutil/property.c
index 211450c80464..23714a0c3daf 100644
--- a/lib/libutil/property.c
+++ b/lib/libutil/property.c
@@ -35,6 +35,7 @@
 #include <stdlib.h>
 #include <stdio.h>
 #include <string.h>
+#include <err.h>
 #include <sys/types.h>
 #include <libutil.h>
 
@@ -62,7 +63,7 @@ properties_read(int fd)
     char buf[BUFSIZ * 4];
     int bp, n, v, max;
     enum { LOOK, COMMENT, NAME, VALUE, MVALUE, COMMIT, FILL, STOP } state;
-    int ch = 0;
+    int ch = 0, blevel = 0;
 
     n = v = bp = max = 0;
     head = ptr = NULL;
@@ -135,8 +136,10 @@ properties_read(int fd)
 	case VALUE:
 	    if (v == 0 && isspace(ch))
 		continue;
-	    else if (ch == '{')
+	    else if (ch == '{') {
 		state = MVALUE;
+		++blevel;
+	    }
 	    else if (ch == '\n' || !ch) {
 		hold_v[v] = '\0';
 		v = n = 0;
@@ -156,16 +159,20 @@ properties_read(int fd)
 	case MVALUE:
 	    /* multiline value */
 	    if (v >= MAX_VALUE) {
+		warn("properties_read: value exceeds max length");
 		state = COMMENT;
 		n = v = 0;
 	    }
-	    else if (ch == '}') {
+	    else if (ch == '}' && !--blevel) {
 		hold_v[v] = '\0';
 		v = n = 0;
 		state = COMMIT;
 	    }
-	    else
+	    else {
 		hold_v[v++] = ch;
+		if (ch == '{')
+		    ++blevel;
+	    }
 	    break;
 
 	case COMMIT: