diff --git a/mercurial/dirstate.py b/mercurial/dirstate.py
index c95db3208a33f5146722a79da92a21ccac4696f1_bWVyY3VyaWFsL2RpcnN0YXRlLnB5..4d680deb0d9e8ee2d8f859c65cd5c78f2e851eaf_bWVyY3VyaWFsL2RpcnN0YXRlLnB5 100644
--- a/mercurial/dirstate.py
+++ b/mercurial/dirstate.py
@@ -809,10 +809,10 @@
 
     def status(self, match, subrepos, ignored, clean, unknown):
         '''Determine the status of the working copy relative to the
-        dirstate and return a nested tuple of lists (unsure, (modified, added,
-        removed, deleted, unknown, ignored, clean)), where:
+        dirstate and return a pair of (unsure, status), where status is of type
+        scmutil.status and:
 
           unsure:
             files that might have been modified since the dirstate was
             written, but need to be read to be sure (size is the same
             but mtime differs)
@@ -814,8 +814,8 @@
 
           unsure:
             files that might have been modified since the dirstate was
             written, but need to be read to be sure (size is the same
             but mtime differs)
-          modified:
+          status.modified:
             files that have definitely been modified since the dirstate
             was written (different size or mode)
@@ -820,17 +820,6 @@
             files that have definitely been modified since the dirstate
             was written (different size or mode)
-          added:
-            files that have been explicitly added with hg add
-          removed:
-            files that have been explicitly removed with hg remove
-          deleted:
-            files that have been deleted through other means ("missing")
-          unknown:
-            files not in the dirstate that are not ignored
-          ignored:
-            files not in the dirstate that are ignored
-            (by _dirignore())
-          clean:
+          status.clean:
             files that have definitely not been modified since the
             dirstate was written
         '''
diff --git a/mercurial/scmutil.py b/mercurial/scmutil.py
index c95db3208a33f5146722a79da92a21ccac4696f1_bWVyY3VyaWFsL3NjbXV0aWwucHk=..4d680deb0d9e8ee2d8f859c65cd5c78f2e851eaf_bWVyY3VyaWFsL3NjbXV0aWwucHk= 100644
--- a/mercurial/scmutil.py
+++ b/mercurial/scmutil.py
@@ -34,7 +34,8 @@
 
     @property
     def modified(self):
+        '''files that have been modified'''
         return self[0]
 
     @property
     def added(self):
@@ -37,8 +38,9 @@
         return self[0]
 
     @property
     def added(self):
+        '''files that have been added'''
         return self[1]
 
     @property
     def removed(self):
@@ -41,8 +43,9 @@
         return self[1]
 
     @property
     def removed(self):
+        '''files that have been removed'''
         return self[2]
 
     @property
     def deleted(self):
@@ -45,8 +48,11 @@
         return self[2]
 
     @property
     def deleted(self):
+        '''files that are in the dirstate, but have been deleted from the
+           working copy (aka "missing")
+        '''
         return self[3]
 
     @property
     def unknown(self):
@@ -49,8 +55,9 @@
         return self[3]
 
     @property
     def unknown(self):
+        '''files not in the dirstate that are not ignored'''
         return self[4]
 
     @property
     def ignored(self):
@@ -53,8 +60,9 @@
         return self[4]
 
     @property
     def ignored(self):
+        '''files not in the dirstate that are ignored (by _dirignore())'''
         return self[5]
 
     @property
     def clean(self):
@@ -57,7 +65,8 @@
         return self[5]
 
     @property
     def clean(self):
+        '''files that have not been modified'''
         return self[6]
 
     def __repr__(self, *args, **kwargs):