diff --git a/etc/NEWS b/etc/NEWS
index d8d0741f928..e12fe52e614 100644
--- a/etc/NEWS
+++ b/etc/NEWS
@@ -237,8 +237,8 @@ The frame-parameter tool-bar-position controls this.  It takes the values
 top, left, right or bottom.  The Options => Show/Hide menu has entries
 for this.
 
-*** The colors for selected text (the region face) are taken from the GTK
-theme when Emacs is built with GTK.
+*** The colors for selected text (the `region' face) are taken from
+the GTK theme when Emacs is built with GTK.
 
 *** Emacs uses GTK tooltips by default if built with GTK.  You can turn that
 off by customizing x-gtk-use-system-tooltips.
@@ -1312,6 +1312,8 @@ Use `filter-buffer-substring-functions' instead.
 
 *** `deferred-action-list' and `deferred-action-function' are obsolete.
 
+*** `font-lock-maximum-size' is obsolete.
+
 
 * Changes in Emacs 24.1 on non-free operating systems
 
diff --git a/lisp/ChangeLog b/lisp/ChangeLog
index 471b1219c19..c3024db8821 100644
--- a/lisp/ChangeLog
+++ b/lisp/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,7 @@
+2011-10-17  Chong Yidong  <cyd@gnu.org>
+
+	* font-lock.el (font-lock-maximum-size): Mark as obsolete.
+
 2011-10-17  Ryan Barrett <emacs@ryanb.org>  (tiny change)
 
 	* dirtrack.el (dirtrack): Support shell buffers with path
diff --git a/lisp/font-lock.el b/lisp/font-lock.el
index c37a9ae916e..2f4b7413dcc 100644
--- a/lisp/font-lock.el
+++ b/lisp/font-lock.el
@@ -228,8 +228,11 @@
 ;; User variables.
 
 (defcustom font-lock-maximum-size 256000
-  "Maximum size of a buffer for buffer fontification.
-Only buffers less than this can be fontified when Font Lock mode is turned on.
+  "Maximum buffer size for unsupported buffer fontification.
+When `font-lock-support-mode' is nil, only buffers smaller than
+this are fontified.  This variable has no effect if a Font Lock
+support mode (usually `jit-lock-mode') is enabled.
+
 If nil, means size is irrelevant.
 If a list, each element should be a cons pair of the form (MAJOR-MODE . SIZE),
 where MAJOR-MODE is a symbol or t (meaning the default).  For example:
@@ -248,6 +251,7 @@ for buffers in Rmail mode, and size is irrelevant otherwise."
 				      (const :tag "none" nil)
 				      (integer :tag "size")))))
   :group 'font-lock)
+(make-obsolete-variable 'font-lock-maximum-size nil "24.1")
 
 (defcustom font-lock-maximum-decoration t
   "Maximum decoration level for fontification.