diff --git a/UPDATING b/UPDATING
index 4430d6d78e86..9574b80b87b5 100644
--- a/UPDATING
+++ b/UPDATING
@@ -31,6 +31,16 @@ NOTE TO PEOPLE WHO THINK THAT FreeBSD 11.x IS SLOW:
 	disable the most expensive debugging functionality run
 	"ln -s 'abort:false,junk:false' /etc/malloc.conf".)
 
+20151012:
+	If you specify SENDMAIL_MC or SENDMAIL_CF in make.conf, mergemaster
+	and etcupdate will now use this file. A custom sendmail.cf is now
+	updated via this mechanism rather than via installworld.  If you had
+	excluded sendmail.cf in mergemaster.rc or etcupdate.conf, you may
+	want to remove the exclusion or change it to "always install".
+	/etc/mail/sendmail.cf is now managed the same way regardless of
+	whether SENDMAIL_MC/SENDMAIL_CF is used.  If you are not using
+	SENDMAIL_MC/SENDMAIL_CF there should be no change in behavior.
+
 20151011:
 	Compatibility shims for legacy ATA device names have been removed.
 	It includes ATA_STATIC_ID kernel option, kern.cam.ada.legacy_aliases
diff --git a/etc/sendmail/Makefile b/etc/sendmail/Makefile
index 719f351d1f97..5578704dc83d 100644
--- a/etc/sendmail/Makefile
+++ b/etc/sendmail/Makefile
@@ -72,24 +72,25 @@ distribution:
 	    ${SMDIR}/helpfile ${DESTDIR}/etc/mail
 	${INSTALL} -o ${BINOWN} -g ${BINGRP} -m 640 \
 	    /dev/null ${DESTDIR}/var/log/sendmail.st
-	${INSTALL} -o ${BINOWN} -g ${BINGRP} -m 644 \
-	    freebsd.cf ${DEST_CF}
-	${INSTALL} -o ${BINOWN} -g ${BINGRP} -m 444 \
-	    freebsd.submit.cf ${DEST_SUBMIT_CF}
-
-install:
-.if defined(INSTALL_CF) && ${INSTALL_CF} != ${DEST_CF}
+.if defined(INSTALL_CF)
 	${INSTALL} -o ${BINOWN} -g ${BINGRP} -m 644 \
 	    ${INSTALL_CF} ${DEST_CF}
+.else
+	${INSTALL} -o ${BINOWN} -g ${BINGRP} -m 644 \
+	    freebsd.cf ${DEST_CF}
 .endif
 .if defined(SENDMAIL_ADDITIONAL_CF)
 	${INSTALL} -o ${BINOWN} -g ${BINGRP} -m 644 \
 	    ${SENDMAIL_ADDITIONAL_CF} ${DESTDIR}/etc/mail
 .endif
-.if !defined(SENDMAIL_SET_USER_ID) && \
-    defined(INSTALL_SUBMIT_CF) && ${INSTALL_SUBMIT_CF} != ${DEST_SUBMIT_CF}
-	${INSTALL} -o ${BINOWN} -g ${BINGRP} -m 644 \
+.if !defined(SENDMAIL_SET_USER_ID)
+.if defined(INSTALL_SUBMIT_CF)
+	${INSTALL} -o ${BINOWN} -g ${BINGRP} -m 444 \
 	    ${INSTALL_SUBMIT_CF} ${DEST_SUBMIT_CF}
+.else
+	${INSTALL} -o ${BINOWN} -g ${BINGRP} -m 444 \
+	    freebsd.submit.cf ${DEST_SUBMIT_CF}
+.endif
 .endif
 
 .include <bsd.prog.mk>