diff --git a/docs/Makefile b/docs/Makefile
index 37776d303c..8e68300e3b 100644
--- a/docs/Makefile
+++ b/docs/Makefile
@@ -8,8 +8,14 @@ DATE		:= $(call date,"+%Y-%m-%d")
 DOC_ARCHES      := arm ppc riscv x86_32 x86_64
 MAN_SECTIONS    := 1 5 7 8
 
+IN_TARGETS := man/xl-disk-configuration.5.pod
+IN_TARGETS += man/xl-network-configuration.5.pod
+IN_TARGETS += man/xl.1.pod
+IN_TARGETS += man/xl.cfg.5.pod
+IN_TARGETS += man/xl.conf.5.pod
+
 # Documentation sources to build
-MAN-SRC-y := $(sort $(basename $(wildcard man/*.pod man/*.pandoc)))
+MAN-SRC-y := $(sort $(basename $(wildcard man/*.pod man/*.pandoc) $(IN_TARGETS)))
 
 RST-SRC-y := $(sort $(filter-out %index.rst,$(shell find * -type f -name '*.rst' -print)))
 
@@ -77,11 +83,14 @@ clean: clean-man-pages
 distclean: clean
 	rm -rf $(XEN_ROOT)/config/Docs.mk config.log config.status config.cache \
 		autom4te.cache
+	$(RM) $(IN_TARGETS)
 
 # Top level install targets
 
 .PHONY: man-pages install-man-pages clean-man-pages uninstall-man-pages
 
+$(foreach file,$(IN_TARGETS),$(eval $(call apply-build-vars,$(file))))
+
 # Metarules for generating manpages.  Run with $(1) substitued for section
 define GENERATE_MANPAGE_RULES
 
diff --git a/docs/configure b/docs/configure
index 98dda3cd0f..8871914dcb 100755
--- a/docs/configure
+++ b/docs/configure
@@ -1794,7 +1794,7 @@ ac_compiler_gnu=$ac_cv_c_compiler_gnu
 
 
 
-ac_config_files="$ac_config_files ../config/Docs.mk man/xl.cfg.5.pod man/xl.1.pod man/xl-disk-configuration.5.pod man/xl-network-configuration.5.pod man/xl.conf.5.pod"
+ac_config_files="$ac_config_files ../config/Docs.mk"
 
 
 
@@ -3063,11 +3063,6 @@ for ac_config_target in $ac_config_targets
 do
   case $ac_config_target in
     "../config/Docs.mk") CONFIG_FILES="$CONFIG_FILES ../config/Docs.mk" ;;
-    "man/xl.cfg.5.pod") CONFIG_FILES="$CONFIG_FILES man/xl.cfg.5.pod" ;;
-    "man/xl.1.pod") CONFIG_FILES="$CONFIG_FILES man/xl.1.pod" ;;
-    "man/xl-disk-configuration.5.pod") CONFIG_FILES="$CONFIG_FILES man/xl-disk-configuration.5.pod" ;;
-    "man/xl-network-configuration.5.pod") CONFIG_FILES="$CONFIG_FILES man/xl-network-configuration.5.pod" ;;
-    "man/xl.conf.5.pod") CONFIG_FILES="$CONFIG_FILES man/xl.conf.5.pod" ;;
 
   *) as_fn_error $? "invalid argument: \`$ac_config_target'" "$LINENO" 5;;
   esac
diff --git a/docs/configure.ac b/docs/configure.ac
index c2e5edd3b3..43dc516056 100644
--- a/docs/configure.ac
+++ b/docs/configure.ac
@@ -5,14 +5,7 @@ AC_PREREQ([2.67])
 AC_INIT([Xen Hypervisor Documentation], m4_esyscmd([../version.sh ../xen/Makefile]),
     [xen-devel@lists.xen.org], [xen], [https://www.xen.org/])
 AC_CONFIG_SRCDIR([misc/xen-command-line.pandoc])
-AC_CONFIG_FILES([
-../config/Docs.mk
-man/xl.cfg.5.pod
-man/xl.1.pod
-man/xl-disk-configuration.5.pod
-man/xl-network-configuration.5.pod
-man/xl.conf.5.pod
-])
+AC_CONFIG_FILES([../config/Docs.mk])
 AC_CONFIG_AUX_DIR([../])
 
 # M4 Macro includes