-The Nominatim server can be customized via the file `settings/local.php`
-in the build directory. Note that this is a PHP file, so it must always
-start like this:
-
- <?php
-
-without any leading spaces.
+The Nominatim server can be customized via a `.env` in the build directory.
+This is a file in [dotenv](https://symfony.com/doc/4.3/components/dotenv.html) format
+which looks the same as variable settings in a standard shell environment.
+You can also set the same configuration via environment variables. All
+settings have a `NOMINATIM_` prefix to avoid conflicts with other environment
+variables.