diff --git a/Makefile.in b/Makefile.in
index c39edfa79..dd27a9087 100644
--- a/Makefile.in
+++ b/Makefile.in
@@ -40,6 +40,7 @@ CPP = @CPP@
 CXX = @CXX@
 ETAGS = @ETAGS@
 EXEEXT = @EXEEXT@
+GREP = @GREP@
 INSTALL_DATA = @INSTALL_DATA@
 INSTALL_HEADER = $(INSTALL_DATA)
 INSTALL = @INSTALL@
@@ -63,6 +64,8 @@ BOOST_CPPFLAGS = @BOOST_CPPFLAGS@
 BOOST_LDFLAGS = @BOOST_LDFLAGS@
 BOOST_REGEX_LIB = @BOOST_REGEX_LIB@
 DEBUG_CFLAGS = @DEBUG_CFLAGS@
+DOCBOOK_MANPAGES_STYLESHEET = @DOCBOOK_MANPAGES_STYLESHEET@
+DOCBOOK_ROOT = @DOCBOOK_ROOT@
 EBML_CFLAGS = @EBML_CFLAGS@
 EBML_LIBS = @EBML_LIBS@
 EXPAT_CFLAGS = @EXPAT_CFLAGS@
@@ -94,6 +97,9 @@ VORBIS_LIBS = @VORBIS_LIBS@
 WXWIDGETS_CFLAGS = @WXWIDGETS_CFLAGS@
 WXWIDGETS_INCLUDES = @WXWIDGETS_INCLUDES@
 WXWIDGETS_LIBS = @WXWIDGETS_LIBS@
+XSLTPROC = @XSLTPROC@
+XSLTPROC_FLAGS = @XSLTPROC_FLAGS@
+XSLTPROC_WORKS = @XSLTPROC_WORKS@
 ZLIB_LIBS = @ZLIB_LIBS@
 
 WARNING_CFLAGS = -Wall -Wno-sign-compare -Wno-comment
@@ -152,10 +158,10 @@ DEP_MPEGPARSER = src/mpegparser/libmpegparser.a
 COMPRESSION_LIBRARIES = $(LZO_LIBS) $(BZ2_LIBS)
 
 APPLICATIONS = src/mkvmerge@EXEEXT@ src/mkvinfo@EXEEXT@ src/mkvextract@EXEEXT@
-MANPAGES = doc/mkvmerge.1 doc/mkvinfo.1 doc/mkvextract.1
+MANPAGES = doc/man/mkvmerge.1 doc/man/mkvinfo.1 doc/man/mkvextract.1
 ifeq (yes,$(USE_WXWIDGETS))
 APPLICATIONS += src/mmg/mmg@EXEEXT@
-MANPAGES += doc/mmg.1
+MANPAGES += doc/man/mmg.1
 endif
 
 TRANSLATIONS = @TRANSLATIONS@
@@ -217,7 +223,13 @@ ifdef ETAGS
 endif
 endif
 
-all: $(TAGSFILE) $(APPLICATIONS) $(TRANSLATIONS_MOS) $(HTMLHELPBOOKS)
+# Only rebuild the man pages if both xsltproc and the DocBook
+# stylesheet have been found by configure.
+ifeq ($(XSLTPROC_WORKS),yes)
+  MANPAGES_DEP = $(MANPAGES)
+endif
+
+all: $(MANPAGES_DEP) $(TAGSFILE) $(APPLICATIONS) $(TRANSLATIONS_MOS) $(HTMLHELPBOOKS)
 
 install: install-programs install-mans install-trans install-guide
 
@@ -264,7 +276,7 @@ install-guide:
 ifeq (1,$(LIBMTXCOMMONDLL))
 %.o: %.cpp
 	@echo '     CXX ' $<
-	@if echo $@ | grep src.common > /dev/null 2>&1; then \
+	@if echo $@ | $(GREP) src.common > /dev/null 2>&1; then \
 		test x$(V) = "x1" && echo $(CXXCOMPILE) $(CXXFLAGS_SRC_COMMON) -c -o $@ $< ; \
 		$(CXXCOMPILE) $(CXXFLAGS_SRC_COMMON) -c -MMD -o $@ $< ; \
 		./handle_deps $@ $$? ; \
@@ -294,7 +306,12 @@ endif
 # HTML help book stuff
 %.hhk: %.hhc
 	@echo '    GREP ' $<
-	$(Q)grep -v 'name="ID"' $< > $@
+	$(Q)$(GREP) -v 'name="ID"' $< > $@
+
+# man pages from DocBook XML
+%.1: %.xml
+	@echo 'XSLTPROC ' $<
+	$(Q)$(XSLTPROC) $(XSLTPROC_FLAGS) -o $@ $(DOCBOOK_MANPAGES_STYLESHEET) $<
 
 # Qt files
 %.h: %.ui
diff --git a/ac/ax_docbook.m4 b/ac/ax_docbook.m4
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..d76a9be17
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ac/ax_docbook.m4
@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+# It's just rude to go over the net to build
+XSLTPROC_FLAGS=--nonet
+DOCBOOK_ROOT=
+for i in /usr/share/xml/docbook/stylesheet/xsl/nwalsh/manpages /usr/share/xml/docbook/stylesheet/nwalsh/manpages /usr/share/xml/docbook/xsl-stylesheets/manpages; do
+  if test -d "$i"; then
+    DOCBOOK_ROOT=$i
+  fi
+done
+
+AC_PATH_PROG(XSLTPROC, xsltproc)
+
+if test "$XSLTPROC" != ""; then
+  DOCBOOK_MANPAGES_STYLESHEET=$DOCBOOK_ROOT/docbook.xsl
+  if test -n "$XSLTPROC"; then
+    AC_CACHE_CHECK([whether xsltproc works],
+      [ac_cv_xsltproc_works],
+      [
+        ac_cv_xsltproc_works=no
+        $XSLTPROC $XSLTPROC_FLAGS $DOCBOOK_MANPAGES_STYLESHEET >/dev/null 2>/dev/null << END
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding='ISO-8859-1'?>
+<!DOCTYPE book PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.5//EN" "http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.5/docbookx.dtd">
+<book id="test">
+</book>
+END
+        if test "$?" = 0; then
+          ac_cv_xsltproc_works=yes
+        fi
+      ])
+
+    XSLTPROC_WORKS=$ac_cv_xsltproc_works
+  fi
+fi
+
+AC_SUBST(DOCBOOK_ROOT)
+AC_SUBST(DOCBOOK_MANPAGES_STYLESHEET)
+AC_SUBST(XSLTPROC)
+AC_SUBST(XSLTPROC_FLAGS)
+AC_SUBST(XSLTPROC_WORKS)
diff --git a/configure.in b/configure.in
index ee50718fc..86c23b4a4 100644
--- a/configure.in
+++ b/configure.in
@@ -40,10 +40,13 @@ m4_include(ac/ax_boost_base.m4)
 m4_include(ac/ax_boost_regex.m4)
 m4_include(ac/boost.m4)
 m4_include(ac/etags.m4)
+m4_include(ac/ax_docbook.m4)
 
 AC_OUTPUT(
   Makefile
   avilib-0.6.10/Makefile
+  doc/Makefile
+  doc/man/Makefile
   librmff/Makefile
   src/Makefile
   src/common/Makefile
diff --git a/doc/man/Makefile.in b/doc/man/Makefile.in
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..10defa073
--- /dev/null
+++ b/doc/man/Makefile.in
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+all %:
+	@$(MAKE) -C ../.. V=$(V) $@