diff --git a/basis/io/files/listing/listing-docs.factor b/basis/io/files/listing/listing-docs.factor
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..6b19e9bfa7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/basis/io/files/listing/listing-docs.factor
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+! Copyright (C) 2008 Doug Coleman.
+! See http://factorcode.org/license.txt for BSD license.
+USING: help.markup help.syntax io.streams.string strings ;
+IN: io.files.listing
+
+HELP: directory.
+{ $values
+     { "path" "a pathname string" }
+}
+{ $description "Prints information about all files in a directory to the output stream in a cross-platform way similar to the Unix " { $snippet "ls" } " command." } ;
+
+ARTICLE: "io.files.listing" "Listing files"
+"The " { $vocab-link "io.files.listing" } " vocabulary implements directory file listing in a cross-platform way." $nl
+"Listing a directory:"
+{ $subsection directory. } ;
+
+ABOUT: "io.files.listing"
diff --git a/basis/io/files/listing/unix/unix.factor b/basis/io/files/listing/unix/unix.factor
index 77e56f50cf..313ce1f79a 100755
--- a/basis/io/files/listing/unix/unix.factor
+++ b/basis/io/files/listing/unix/unix.factor
@@ -2,7 +2,8 @@
 ! See http://factorcode.org/license.txt for BSD license.
 USING: accessors combinators kernel system unicode.case
 io.unix.files io.files.listing generalizations strings
-arrays sequences io.files math.parser unix.groups unix.users ;
+arrays sequences io.files math.parser unix.groups unix.users
+io.files.listing.private ;
 IN: io.files.listing.unix
 
 <PRIVATE
diff --git a/basis/io/files/listing/windows/windows.factor b/basis/io/files/listing/windows/windows.factor
index 7c108780dc..33ab47a50a 100755
--- a/basis/io/files/listing/windows/windows.factor
+++ b/basis/io/files/listing/windows/windows.factor
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 ! See http://factorcode.org/license.txt for BSD license.
 USING: accessors calendar.format combinators io.files
 kernel math.parser sequences splitting system io.files.listing
-generalizations ;
+generalizations io.files.listing.private ;
 IN: io.files.listing.windows
 
 <PRIVATE