diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 65b6301ea..4af0c1f04 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -45,7 +45,7 @@ With the required dependencies installed, the `Makefile` target named **binaries
 
 Vendoring of external imports uses the [`vndr` tool](https://github.com/LK4D4/vndr) which uses a simple config file, `vendor.conf`, to provide the URL and version or hash details for each vendored import. After modifying `vendor.conf` run the `vndr` tool to update the `vendor/` directory contents. Combining the `vendor.conf` update with the changeset in `vendor/` after running `vndr` should become a single commit for a PR which relies on vendored updates.
 
-Containerd will by default use `runc` found via the $PATH as the OCI-compliant runtime. You can specify the runtime directly with the `runtime` flag when starting containerd. However you specify the runtime, the expectation is that during the pre-release development cycle for containerd, the supported version of `runc` will track the current master branch of [`opencontainers/runc`](https://github.com/opencontainers/runc).
+Please refer to [RUNC.md](/RUNC.md) for the currently supported version of `runc` that is used by containerd.
 
 ## Features
 
diff --git a/RUNC.md b/RUNC.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..f854e1ef1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/RUNC.md
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+containerd is built with OCI support and with support for advanced features provided by `runc`.
+
+We depend on a specific runc version when dealing with advanced features.  You should have a specific build for development.  The current supported runc commit is:
+
+RUNC_COMMIT = 50401b5b4c2e01e4f1372b73a021742deeaf4e2d
+
+## building
+
+### apparmor
+
+```bash
+make BUILDTAGS='seccomp apparmor' && sudo make install
+```
+
+### selinux
+
+```bash
+make BUILDTAGS='seccomp selinux' && sudo make install
+```
+
+After an official runc release we will start pinning containerd support to a specific version but various development and testing features may require a newer runc version than the latest release.  If you encounter any runtime errors, please make sure your runc is in sync with the commit/tag provided in this document.