diff --git a/docs/index.rst b/docs/index.rst
index 264c18db..4b019b39 100644
--- a/docs/index.rst
+++ b/docs/index.rst
@@ -384,6 +384,21 @@ dynamically loaded plugins.
 For more info see :ref:`call_historic`.
 
 
+Warnings on hook implementation
+^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+
+As projects evolve new hooks may be introduced and/or deprecated.
+
+if a hookspec specifies a ``warn_on_impl``, pluggy will trigger it for any plugin implementing the hook.
+
+
+.. code-block:: python
+
+    @hookspec(warn_on_impl=DeprecationWarning("oldhook is deprecated and will be removed soon"))
+    def oldhook():
+        pass
+
+
 .. links
 .. _@contextlib.contextmanager:
     https://docs.python.org/3.6/library/contextlib.html#contextlib.contextmanager
diff --git a/pluggy/hooks.py b/pluggy/hooks.py
index 8e8afce4..fe385988 100644
--- a/pluggy/hooks.py
+++ b/pluggy/hooks.py
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ class HookspecMarker(object):
     def __init__(self, project_name):
         self.project_name = project_name
 
-    def __call__(self, function=None, firstresult=False, historic=False):
+    def __call__(self, function=None, firstresult=False, historic=False, warn_on_impl=None):
         """ if passed a function, directly sets attributes on the function
         which will make it discoverable to add_hookspecs().  If passed no
         function, returns a decorator which can be applied to a function
@@ -35,7 +35,8 @@ def setattr_hookspec_opts(func):
             if historic and firstresult:
                 raise ValueError("cannot have a historic firstresult hook")
             setattr(func, self.project_name + "_spec",
-                    dict(firstresult=firstresult, historic=historic))
+                    dict(firstresult=firstresult, historic=historic,
+                         warn_on_impl=warn_on_impl,))
             return func
 
         if function is not None:
@@ -195,6 +196,7 @@ def set_specification(self, specmodule_or_class, spec_opts):
         self.spec_opts.update(spec_opts)
         if spec_opts.get("historic"):
             self._call_history = []
+        self.warn_on_impl = spec_opts.get('warn_on_impl')
 
     def is_historic(self):
         return hasattr(self, "_call_history")
diff --git a/pluggy/manager.py b/pluggy/manager.py
index 36034d8a..9f549e09 100644
--- a/pluggy/manager.py
+++ b/pluggy/manager.py
@@ -1,12 +1,23 @@
 import inspect
 from . import _tracing
 from .hooks import HookImpl, _HookRelay, _HookCaller, normalize_hookimpl_opts
+import warnings
+
+
+def _warn_for_function(warning, function):
+    warnings.warn_explicit(
+        warning,
+        type(warning),
+        lineno=function.__code__.co_firstlineno,
+        filename=function.__code__.co_filename,
+    )
 
 
 class PluginValidationError(Exception):
-    """ plugin failed validation. 
+    """ plugin failed validation.
 
-    :param object plugin: the plugin which failed validation, may be a module or an arbitrary object.
+    :param object plugin: the plugin which failed validation,
+        may be a module or an arbitrary object.
     """
 
     def __init__(self, plugin, message):
@@ -188,7 +199,8 @@ def _verify_hook(self, hook, hookimpl):
                 hookimpl.plugin,
                 "Plugin %r\nhook %r\nhistoric incompatible to hookwrapper" %
                 (hookimpl.plugin_name, hook.name))
-
+        if hook.warn_on_impl:
+            _warn_for_function(hook.warn_on_impl, hookimpl.function)
         # positional arg checking
         notinspec = set(hookimpl.argnames) - set(hook.argnames)
         if notinspec:
diff --git a/testing/test_details.py b/testing/test_details.py
index 233b77b9..083f3f05 100644
--- a/testing/test_details.py
+++ b/testing/test_details.py
@@ -46,6 +46,30 @@ def x1meth2(self):
     assert pm.hook.x1meth2._wrappers[0].hookwrapper
 
 
+def test_warn_when_deprecated_specified(recwarn):
+    warning = DeprecationWarning("foo is deprecated")
+
+    class Spec(object):
+        @hookspec(warn_on_impl=warning)
+        def foo(self):
+            pass
+
+    class Plugin(object):
+        @hookimpl
+        def foo(self):
+            pass
+
+    pm = PluginManager(hookspec.project_name)
+    pm.add_hookspecs(Spec)
+
+    with pytest.warns(DeprecationWarning) as records:
+        pm.register(Plugin())
+    (record,) = records
+    assert record.message is warning
+    assert record.filename == Plugin.foo.__code__.co_filename
+    assert record.lineno == Plugin.foo.__code__.co_firstlineno
+
+
 def test_plugin_getattr_raises_errors():
     """Pluggy must be able to handle plugins which raise weird exceptions
     when getattr() gets called (#11).