-dist_man1_MANS = lttng.1 lttng-crash.1
-dist_man8_MANS = lttng-sessiond.8 lttng-relayd.8
+# Man pages are only built if the --enable-build-man-pages option was passed
+# to the configure script.
+#
+# They should always be built before creating a distribution tarball.
+
+# function which adds the source directory prefix and adds a given suffix
+manaddsuffix = $(addsuffix $(1),$(addprefix $(srcdir)/,$(2)))
+
+# List only the names without the .*.txt extension here:
+MAN1_NAMES = \
+ lttng
+MAN3_NAMES =
+MAN8_NAMES =
+MAN1_NO_ASCIIDOC_NAMES = lttng-crash
+MAN3_NO_ASCIIDOC_NAMES =
+MAN8_NO_ASCIIDOC_NAMES = lttng-relayd lttng-sessiond
+
+# man pages destinations
+MAN1 = $(call manaddsuffix,.1,$(MAN1_NAMES))
+MAN3 = $(call manaddsuffix,.3,$(MAN3_NAMES))
+MAN8 = $(call manaddsuffix,.8,$(MAN8_NAMES))
+MAN1_NO_ASCIIDOC = $(call manaddsuffix,.1,$(MAN1_NO_ASCIIDOC_NAMES))
+MAN3_NO_ASCIIDOC = $(call manaddsuffix,.3,$(MAN3_NO_ASCIIDOC_NAMES))
+MAN8_NO_ASCIIDOC = $(call manaddsuffix,.8,$(MAN8_NO_ASCIIDOC_NAMES))
+MAN = $(MAN1) $(MAN3) $(MAN8)
+
+# those are always installed since they are written in troff
+dist_man1_MANS = $(MAN1_NO_ASCIIDOC)
+dist_man3_MANS = $(MAN3_NO_ASCIIDOC)
+dist_man8_MANS = $(MAN8_NO_ASCIIDOC)
+
+# only build man pages if it was enabled
+if BUILD_MAN_PAGES
+# dist + install
+dist_man1_MANS += $(MAN1)
+dist_man3_MANS += $(MAN3)
+dist_man8_MANS += $(MAN8)
+
+# AsciiDoc sources and outputs
+MAN1_TXT = $(call manaddsuffix,.1.txt,$(MAN1_NAMES))
+MAN3_TXT = $(call manaddsuffix,.3.txt,$(MAN3_NAMES))
+MAN8_TXT = $(call manaddsuffix,.8.txt,$(MAN8_NAMES))
+MAN_TXT = $(MAN1_TXT) $(MAN3_TXT) $(MAN8_TXT)
+MAN_XML = $(patsubst $(srcdir)/%.txt,%.xml,$(MAN_TXT))
+
+# common AsciiDoc source files
+COMMON_TXT = \
+ $(srcdir)/common-footer.txt \
+ $(srcdir)/common-cmd-footer.txt
+
+# config
+ASCIIDOC_CONF = $(srcdir)/asciidoc.conf
+XSL_FILES = \
+ manpage.xsl \
+ manpage-base.xsl \
+ manpage-bold-literal.xsl \
+ manpage-ulinks.xsl
+XSL_SRC_FILES = $(addprefix $(srcdir)/xsl/,$(XSL_FILES))
+
+# common dependencies
+COMMON_DEPS = $(ASCIIDOC_CONF) $(COMMON_TXT)
+
+# tools
+ADOC = $(ASCIIDOC) -f $(ASCIIDOC_CONF) -d manpage \
+ -a lttng_version=$(PACKAGE_VERSION)
+ADOC_DOCBOOK = $(ADOC) -b docbook
+XTO = $(XMLTO) -m $(firstword $(XSL_SRC_FILES)) man
+
+# recipes
+%.1.xml: $(srcdir)/%.1.txt $(COMMON_DEPS)
+ $(ADOC_DOCBOOK) -o $@ $<
+
+%.1: %.1.xml $(XSL_SRC_FILES)
+ $(XTO) $<
+
+%.3.xml: $(srcdir)/%.3.txt $(COMMON_DEPS)
+ $(ADOC_DOCBOOK) -o $@ $<
+
+%.3: %.3.xml $(XSL_SRC_FILES)
+ $(XTO) $<
+
+%.8.xml: $(srcdir)/%.8.txt $(COMMON_DEPS)
+ $(ADOC_DOCBOOK) -o $@ $<
+
+%.8: %.8.xml $(XSL_SRC_FILES)
+ $(XTO) $<
+
+clean-local:
+ rm -rf $(MAN_XML)
+ rm -rf $(MAN)
+else
+if IN_GIT_REPO
+# we are in the Git repo: the man pages should be built for distribution
+dist-hook:
+ @echo
+ @echo 'Error: Please build the man pages before creating a tarball.'
+ @echo
+ @false
+else
+# we are in the tarball, hence the man pages are already built
+dist_man1_MANS += $(MAN1)
+dist_man3_MANS += $(MAN3)
+dist_man8_MANS += $(MAN8)
+endif # IN_GIT_REPO
+endif # BUILD_MAN_PAGES