diff --git a/sys/amd64/conf/Makefile b/sys/amd64/conf/Makefile
index 1d2513f2abfb..735e33c8af9c 100644
--- a/sys/amd64/conf/Makefile
+++ b/sys/amd64/conf/Makefile
@@ -2,4 +2,5 @@
 
 TARGET=amd64
 
+NOTES=	${.CURDIR}/../../x86/conf/NOTES
 .include "${.CURDIR}/../../conf/makeLINT.mk"
diff --git a/sys/conf/NOTES b/sys/conf/NOTES
index dda327104907..4ae4b1f3169b 100644
--- a/sys/conf/NOTES
+++ b/sys/conf/NOTES
@@ -339,16 +339,6 @@ options 	UMTX_PROFILING
 #####################################################################
 # COMPATIBILITY OPTIONS
 
-#
-# Implement system calls compatible with 4.3BSD and older versions of
-# FreeBSD.  You probably do NOT want to remove this as much current code
-# still relies on the 4.3 emulation.  Note that some architectures that
-# are supported by FreeBSD do not include support for certain important
-# aspects of this compatibility option, namely those related to the
-# signal delivery mechanism.
-#
-options 	COMPAT_43
-
 # Old tty interface.
 options 	COMPAT_43TTY
 
diff --git a/sys/conf/makeLINT.mk b/sys/conf/makeLINT.mk
index d3a414c14ff6..13f7680377c1 100644
--- a/sys/conf/makeLINT.mk
+++ b/sys/conf/makeLINT.mk
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ clean:
 	rm -f LINT-NOINET LINT-NOINET6 LINT-NOIP
 .endif
 
-NOTES=	${.CURDIR}/../../conf/NOTES ${.CURDIR}/NOTES
+NOTES+=	${.CURDIR}/../../conf/NOTES ${.CURDIR}/NOTES
 MAKELINT_SED= ${.CURDIR}/../../conf/makeLINT.sed
 LINT: ${NOTES} ${MAKELINT_SED}
 	cat ${NOTES} | sed -E -n -f ${MAKELINT_SED} > ${.TARGET}
diff --git a/sys/i386/conf/Makefile b/sys/i386/conf/Makefile
index e04b0abe62f9..0cbafedfaf16 100644
--- a/sys/i386/conf/Makefile
+++ b/sys/i386/conf/Makefile
@@ -2,4 +2,5 @@
 
 TARGET=i386
 
+NOTES=	${.CURDIR}/../../x86/conf/NOTES
 .include "${.CURDIR}/../../conf/makeLINT.mk"
diff --git a/sys/x86/conf/NOTES b/sys/x86/conf/NOTES
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..1dcbe183c68b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/sys/x86/conf/NOTES
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+# $FreeBSD$
+#
+
+# Common NOTES between i386 and amd64
+
+
+#####################################################################
+# COMPATIBILITY OPTIONS
+
+# Implement system calls compatible with 4.3BSD and older versions of
+# FreeBSD.  Needed for FreeBSD a.out support. Unneeded for ELF
+# versions of FreeBSD.
+options 	COMPAT_43