diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index f93dd6868e..2266b4d22f 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -62,7 +62,6 @@ addons:
             - libnl-3-dev
             - ocaml-nox
             - libfindlib-ocaml-dev
-            - markdown
             - transfig
             - pandoc
             - gcc-arm-linux-gnueabihf
diff --git a/README b/README
index 3a497fb064..fd6f4f1348 100644
--- a/README
+++ b/README
@@ -73,7 +73,8 @@ disabled at compile time:
       ocaml-findlib). Required to build ocaml components which
       includes the alternative ocaml xenstored.
     * cmake (if building vtpm stub domains)
-    * markdown
+    * pandoc, transfig, pod2{man,html,text} for rendering various pieces of
+      documentation into alternative formats
     * figlet (for generating the traditional Xen start of day banner)
     * systemd daemon development files
     * Development install of libnl3 (e.g., libnl-3-200,
diff --git a/config/Docs.mk.in b/config/Docs.mk.in
index 33bd52925a..e76e5cd5ff 100644
--- a/config/Docs.mk.in
+++ b/config/Docs.mk.in
@@ -5,6 +5,5 @@ FIG2DEV             := @FIG2DEV@
 POD2MAN             := @POD2MAN@
 POD2HTML            := @POD2HTML@
 POD2TEXT            := @POD2TEXT@
-MARKDOWN            := @MARKDOWN@
 PANDOC              := @PANDOC@
 PERL                := @PERL@
diff --git a/docs/Makefile b/docs/Makefile
index 2867efc53b..013fa8eede 100644
--- a/docs/Makefile
+++ b/docs/Makefile
@@ -11,8 +11,6 @@ MAN_SECTIONS    := 1 5 7 8
 # Documentation sources to build
 MAN-SRC-y := $(sort $(basename $(wildcard man/*.pod man/*.pandoc)))
 
-MARKDOWNSRC-y := $(sort $(shell find misc -name '*.markdown' -print))
-
 TXTSRC-y := $(sort $(shell find misc -name '*.txt' -print))
 
 PANDOCSRC-y := $(sort $(shell find designs/ features/ misc/ process/ specs/ -name '*.pandoc' -print))
@@ -23,17 +21,14 @@ $(foreach i,$(MAN_SECTIONS), \
                                    $(filter %.$(i),$(MAN-SRC-y)))))
 
 DOC_HTML := html/SUPPORT.html \
-            $(patsubst %.markdown,html/%.html,$(MARKDOWNSRC-y)) \
             $(patsubst %.pandoc,html/%.html,$(PANDOCSRC-y)) \
             $(patsubst %,html/%.html,$(MAN-SRC-y)) \
             $(patsubst %.txt,html/%.txt,$(TXTSRC-y)) \
             $(patsubst %,html/hypercall/%/index.html,$(DOC_ARCHES))
 DOC_TXT  := $(patsubst %.txt,txt/%.txt,$(TXTSRC-y)) \
-            $(patsubst %.markdown,txt/%.txt,$(MARKDOWNSRC-y)) \
             $(patsubst %.pandoc,txt/%.txt,$(PANDOCSRC-y)) \
             $(patsubst %,txt/%.txt,$(MAN-SRC-y))
-DOC_PDF  := $(patsubst %.markdown,pdf/%.pdf,$(MARKDOWNSRC-y)) \
-            $(patsubst %.pandoc,pdf/%.pdf,$(PANDOCSRC-y))
+DOC_PDF  := $(patsubst %.pandoc,pdf/%.pdf,$(PANDOCSRC-y))
 
 # Top level build targets
 .PHONY: all
@@ -181,14 +176,6 @@ uninstall: uninstall-man-pages uninstall-html
 html/index.html: $(DOC_HTML) $(CURDIR)/gen-html-index INDEX
 	$(PERL) -w -- $(CURDIR)/gen-html-index -i INDEX html $(DOC_HTML)
 
-html/%.html: %.markdown
-ifneq ($(MARKDOWN),)
-	@$(INSTALL_DIR) $(@D)
-	$(MARKDOWN) $< > $@
-else
-	@echo "markdown not installed; skipping $@"
-endif
-
 html/%.txt: %.txt
 	@$(INSTALL_DIR) $(@D)
 	$(INSTALL_DATA) $< $@
@@ -213,10 +200,6 @@ txt/%.txt: %.txt
 	@$(INSTALL_DIR) $(@D)
 	$(INSTALL_DATA) $< $@
 
-txt/%.txt: %.markdown
-	@$(INSTALL_DIR) $(@D)
-	$(INSTALL_DATA) $< $@
-
 # Metarule for generating pandoc rules.
 define GENERATE_PANDOC_RULE_RAW
 $(1): $(2)
@@ -234,9 +217,8 @@ endef
 $(eval $(call GENERATE_PANDOC_RULE,pdf,pandoc))   # pdf/%.pdf: %.pandoc
 $(eval $(call GENERATE_PANDOC_RULE,txt,pandoc))   # txt/%.txt: %.pandoc
 $(eval $(call GENERATE_PANDOC_RULE,html,pandoc))  # html/%.html: %.pandoc
-$(eval $(call GENERATE_PANDOC_RULE,pdf,markdown)) # pdf/%.pdf: %.markdown
 
-$(eval $(call GENERATE_PANDOC_RULE_RAW,html/SUPPORT.html,$(XEN_ROOT)/SUPPORT.md)) # pdf/%.pdf: %.markdown
+$(eval $(call GENERATE_PANDOC_RULE_RAW,html/SUPPORT.html,$(XEN_ROOT)/SUPPORT.md))
 
 ifeq (,$(findstring clean,$(MAKECMDGOALS)))
 $(XEN_ROOT)/config/Docs.mk:
diff --git a/docs/configure b/docs/configure
index 3e0089c435..7b90da0424 100755
--- a/docs/configure
+++ b/docs/configure
@@ -588,7 +588,6 @@ ac_unique_file="misc/xen-command-line.markdown"
 ac_subst_vars='LTLIBOBJS
 LIBOBJS
 PERL
-MARKDOWN
 PANDOC
 POD2TEXT
 POD2HTML
@@ -673,7 +672,6 @@ POD2MAN
 POD2HTML
 POD2TEXT
 PANDOC
-MARKDOWN
 PERL'
 
 
@@ -1316,7 +1314,6 @@ Some influential environment variables:
   POD2HTML    Path to pod2html tool
   POD2TEXT    Path to pod2text tool
   PANDOC      Path to pandoc tool
-  MARKDOWN    Path to markdown tool
   PERL        Path to Perl parser
 
 Use these variables to override the choices made by `configure' or to help
@@ -2224,60 +2221,6 @@ fi
 
 
 
-    for ac_prog in markdown markdown_py
-do
-  # Extract the first word of "$ac_prog", so it can be a program name with args.
-set dummy $ac_prog; ac_word=$2
-{ $as_echo "$as_me:${as_lineno-$LINENO}: checking for $ac_word" >&5
-$as_echo_n "checking for $ac_word... " >&6; }
-if ${ac_cv_path_MARKDOWN+:} false; then :
-  $as_echo_n "(cached) " >&6
-else
-  case $MARKDOWN in
-  [\\/]* | ?:[\\/]*)
-  ac_cv_path_MARKDOWN="$MARKDOWN" # Let the user override the test with a path.
-  ;;
-  *)
-  as_save_IFS=$IFS; IFS=$PATH_SEPARATOR
-for as_dir in $PATH
-do
-  IFS=$as_save_IFS
-  test -z "$as_dir" && as_dir=.
-    for ac_exec_ext in '' $ac_executable_extensions; do
-  if as_fn_executable_p "$as_dir/$ac_word$ac_exec_ext"; then
-    ac_cv_path_MARKDOWN="$as_dir/$ac_word$ac_exec_ext"
-    $as_echo "$as_me:${as_lineno-$LINENO}: found $as_dir/$ac_word$ac_exec_ext" >&5
-    break 2
-  fi
-done
-  done
-IFS=$as_save_IFS
-
-  ;;
-esac
-fi
-MARKDOWN=$ac_cv_path_MARKDOWN
-if test -n "$MARKDOWN"; then
-  { $as_echo "$as_me:${as_lineno-$LINENO}: result: $MARKDOWN" >&5
-$as_echo "$MARKDOWN" >&6; }
-else
-  { $as_echo "$as_me:${as_lineno-$LINENO}: result: no" >&5
-$as_echo "no" >&6; }
-fi
-
-
-  test -n "$MARKDOWN" && break
-done
-
-    if ! test -x "$ac_cv_path_MARKDOWN"; then :
-
-        { $as_echo "$as_me:${as_lineno-$LINENO}: WARNING: markdown is not available so some documentation won't be built" >&5
-$as_echo "$as_me: WARNING: markdown is not available so some documentation won't be built" >&2;}
-
-fi
-
-
-
 # Extract the first word of "perl", so it can be a program name with args.
 set dummy perl; ac_word=$2
 { $as_echo "$as_me:${as_lineno-$LINENO}: checking for $ac_word" >&5
diff --git a/docs/configure.ac b/docs/configure.ac
index 577716265c..4927b974b3 100644
--- a/docs/configure.ac
+++ b/docs/configure.ac
@@ -25,7 +25,6 @@ AX_DOCS_TOOL_PROG([POD2MAN], [pod2man])
 AX_DOCS_TOOL_PROG([POD2HTML], [pod2html])
 AX_DOCS_TOOL_PROG([POD2TEXT], [pod2text])
 AX_DOCS_TOOL_PROG([PANDOC], [pandoc])
-AX_DOCS_TOOL_PROGS([MARKDOWN], [markdown], [markdown markdown_py])
 
 AC_ARG_VAR([PERL], [Path to Perl parser])
 AX_PATH_PROG_OR_FAIL([PERL], [perl])