diff --git a/configure b/configure
index 005c5f4dc2..69001b9123 100755
--- a/configure
+++ b/configure
@@ -35,49 +35,53 @@ function usage()
 	echo "                           disable features and components."
 	echo ""
 	echo "Valid dependencies are listed below."
-	echo " dpdk                      Optional.  Uses dpdk submodule in spdk tree if not specified."
+	echo " dpdk                      Build against a custom dpdk version. By default, the dpdk"
+	echo "                           submodule in spdk tree will be used."
 	echo "                           example: /usr/share/dpdk/x86_64-default-linuxapp-gcc"
 	echo " env                       Use an alternate environment implementation instead of DPDK."
 	echo "                           Implies --without-dpdk."
-	echo " igb-uio-driver            Build and use DPDK's igb-uio driver instead of uio_pci_generic"
-	echo "                           or vfio-pci. Required on some systems to use qat devices"
+	echo " igb-uio-driver            Build DPDK's igb-uio driver."
+	echo "                           Required on some systems to use qat devices. This flag is"
+	echo "                           effective only with the default dpdk submodule."
 	echo "                           No path required"
-	echo " crypto                    Required to build vbdev crypto module."
+	echo " crypto                    Build vbdev crypto module."
 	echo "                           No path required."
-	echo " fio                       Required to build fio_plugin."
+	echo " fio                       Build fio_plugin."
 	echo "                           example: /usr/src/fio"
-	echo " vhost                     Required to build vhost target."
+	echo " vhost                     Build vhost target. Enabled by default."
 	echo "                           No path required."
-	echo " internal-vhost-lib        Use the internal copy of rte_vhost."
+	echo " internal-vhost-lib        Use the internal copy of rte_vhost. By default, the upstream"
+	echo "                           rte_vhost from DPDK will be used."
 	echo "                           No path required."
-	echo " virtio                    Required to build vhost initiator (Virtio) bdev module."
+	echo " virtio                    Build vhost initiator and virtio-pci bdev modules."
 	echo "                           No path required."
-	echo " pmdk                      Required to build persistent memory bdev."
+	echo " pmdk                      Build persistent memory bdev."
 	echo "                           example: /usr/share/pmdk"
-	echo " reduce                    Required to build vbdev compression module."
+	echo " reduce                    Build vbdev compression module."
 	echo "                           No path required."
-	echo " vpp                       Required to build VPP net module."
+	echo " vpp                       Build VPP net module."
 	echo "                           example: /vpp_repo/build-root/rpmbuild/vpp-18.01.1.0/build-root/install-vpp-native/vpp"
-	echo " rbd                       [disabled]"
+	echo " rbd                       Build Ceph RBD bdev module."
 	echo "                           No path required."
-	echo " rdma                      [disabled]"
+	echo " rdma                      Build RDMA transport for NVMf target and initiator."
 	echo "                           No path required."
-	echo " shared                    Required to build spdk shared libraries."
+	echo " shared                    Build spdk shared libraries."
 	echo "                           No path required."
-	echo " iscsi-initiator           [disabled]"
+	echo " iscsi-initiator           Build with iscsi bdev module."
 	echo "                           No path required."
 	echo " vtune                     Required to profile I/O under Intel VTune Amplifier XE."
 	echo "                           example: /opt/intel/vtune_amplifier_xe_version"
-	echo " ocf                       Required to build OCF module."
+	echo " ocf                       Build OCF library and bdev module."
 	echo "                           If argument is directory, interpret it as root of OCF repo"
 	echo "                           If argument is file, interpret it as compiled OCF lib"
 	echo "                           If no argument is specified, OCF git submodule is used by default"
 	echo "                           example: /usr/src/ocf/"
-	echo " isal                      Enabled by default on x86 architecture. Can be built without though."
+	echo " isal                      Build with ISA-L. Enabled by default on x86 architecture."
 	echo "                           No path required."
-	echo " uring                     Required to support I/O uring on Linux. If no argument, searches"
-	echo "                           the standard installation directory. If an argument is provided, it is"
-	echo "                           considered a directory containing liburing.a and io_uring.h."
+	echo " uring                     Build I/O uring bdev."
+	echo "                           If an argument is provided, it is considered a directory containing"
+	echo "                           liburing.a and io_uring.h. Otherwise the regular system paths will"
+	echo "                           be searched."
 	echo ""
 	echo "Environment variables:"
 	echo ""