diff --git a/Library/Contributions/manpages/brew.1.md b/Library/Contributions/manpages/brew.1.md
index 4f3bfffd94..be7c168c8a 100644
--- a/Library/Contributions/manpages/brew.1.md
+++ b/Library/Contributions/manpages/brew.1.md
@@ -283,6 +283,21 @@ Some external commands are shipped with Homebrew, and enabled by default.
     If set, instructs Homebrew to always assume `--verbose` when running
     commands.
 
+## USING HOMEBREW BEHIND A PROXY
+
+Homebrew uses several commands for downloading files (e.g. curl, git, svn).
+Many of these tools can download via a proxy. It's common for these tools
+to read proxy parameters from environment variables.
+
+For the majority of cases setting `http_proxy` is enough. You can set this in
+your shell profile, or you can use it before a brew command:
+
+    http_proxy=http://<host>:<port> brew install foo
+
+If your proxy requires authentication:
+
+    http_proxy=http://<user>:<password>@<host>:<port> brew install foo
+
 ## SEE ALSO
 
 Homebrew Wiki: http://wiki.github.com/mxcl/homebrew/
diff --git a/share/man/man1/brew.1 b/share/man/man1/brew.1
index c47164742e..c2a0247244 100644
--- a/share/man/man1/brew.1
+++ b/share/man/man1/brew.1
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 .\" generated with Ronn/v0.7.3
 .\" http://github.com/rtomayko/ronn/tree/0.7.3
 .
-.TH "BREW" "1" "October 2010" "Homebrew" "brew"
+.TH "BREW" "1" "November 2010" "Homebrew" "brew"
 .
 .SH "NAME"
 \fBbrew\fR \- The missing package manager for OS X
@@ -285,6 +285,35 @@ If set, instructs Homebrew to use the LLVM front\-ends to the GCC compilers\.
 HOMEBREW_VERBOSE
 If set, instructs Homebrew to always assume \fB\-\-verbose\fR when running commands\.
 .
+.SH "USING HOMEBREW BEHIND A PROXY"
+Homebrew uses several commands for downloading files (e\.g\. curl, git, svn)\. Many of these tools can download via a proxy\. It\'s common for these tools to read proxy parameters from environment variables\.
+.
+.P
+For the majority of cases setting \fBhttp_proxy\fR is enough\. You can set this in your shell profile, or you can use it before a brew command:
+.
+.IP "" 4
+.
+.nf
+
+http_proxy=http://<host>:<port> brew install foo
+.
+.fi
+.
+.IP "" 0
+.
+.P
+If your proxy requires authentication:
+.
+.IP "" 4
+.
+.nf
+
+http_proxy=http://<user>:<password>@<host>:<port> brew install foo
+.
+.fi
+.
+.IP "" 0
+.
 .SH "SEE ALSO"
 Homebrew Wiki: http://wiki\.github\.com/mxcl/homebrew/
 .