diff --git a/Documentation/kernel-doc-nano-HOWTO.txt b/Documentation/kernel-doc-nano-HOWTO.txt
index 026ec7d..4d04572 100644
--- a/Documentation/kernel-doc-nano-HOWTO.txt
+++ b/Documentation/kernel-doc-nano-HOWTO.txt
@@ -269,7 +269,10 @@
 
 Inside a struct description, you can use the "private:" and "public:"
 comment tags.  Structure fields that are inside a "private:" area
-are not listed in the generated output documentation.
+are not listed in the generated output documentation.  The "private:"
+and "public:" tags must begin immediately following a "/*" comment
+marker.  They may optionally include comments between the ":" and the
+ending "*/" marker.
 
 Example:
 
@@ -283,7 +286,7 @@
 struct my_struct {
     int a;
     int b;
-/* private: */
+/* private: internal use only */
     int c;
 };
 
diff --git a/scripts/kernel-doc b/scripts/kernel-doc
index 0f11870..3208a3a 100755
--- a/scripts/kernel-doc
+++ b/scripts/kernel-doc
@@ -1411,7 +1411,8 @@
     my $file = shift;
     my $nested;
 
-    if ($x =~/(struct|union)\s+(\w+)\s*{(.*)}/) {
+    if ($x =~ /(struct|union)\s+(\w+)\s*{(.*)}/) {
+	#my $decl_type = $1;
 	$declaration_name = $2;
 	my $members = $3;
 
@@ -1420,8 +1421,8 @@
 	$nested = $1;
 
 	# ignore members marked private:
-	$members =~ s/\/\*.*?private:.*?public:.*?\*\///gos;
-	$members =~ s/\/\*.*?private:.*//gos;
+	$members =~ s/\/\*\s*private:.*?\/\*\s*public:.*?\*\///gos;
+	$members =~ s/\/\*\s*private:.*//gos;
 	# strip comments:
 	$members =~ s/\/\*.*?\*\///gos;
 	$nested =~ s/\/\*.*?\*\///gos;