diff --git a/gvdb.doap b/gvdb.doap
index fc4e09ab2..841e5de5e 100644
--- a/gvdb.doap
+++ b/gvdb.doap
@@ -7,6 +7,19 @@
 
   <name xml:lang='en'>gvdb</name>
   <shortdesc xml:lang='en'>GVariant Database file</shortdesc>
+  <description xml:lang='en'>
+    A simple database file format that stores a mapping from strings to
+    GVariant values in a way that is extremely efficient for lookups.
+
+    The database is written once and can not be modified.
+
+    Included here is reader code and a first-pass implementation of a
+    writer (that does not currently produce particularly optimised
+    output).
+
+    It is intended that this code be used by copy-pasting into your
+    project or by making use of git-submodule(1).
+  </description>
 
   <maintainer>
     <foaf:Person>