diff --git a/man/html.in b/man/html.in
new file mode 100755
index 00000000000..d4debcc3400
--- /dev/null
+++ b/man/html.in
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+set -e
+
+if [ -z "$1" ]; then
+    echo "Use: $0 page-name (with no section suffix)"
+    exit 1
+fi
+
+target="man/$1.html"
+ninja -C "@BUILD_ROOT@" "$target"
+set -x
+exec xdg-open build/"$target"
diff --git a/man/man.in b/man/man.in
new file mode 100755
index 00000000000..5700a642bd8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/man/man.in
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+set -e
+
+if [ -z "$1" ]; then
+    echo "Use: $0 page-name (with no section suffix)"
+    exit 1
+fi
+
+target=$(ninja -C "@BUILD_ROOT@" -t query man/man | grep -E -m1 "man/$1\.[0-9]$" | awk '{print $2}')
+if [ -z "$target" ]; then
+    echo "Cannot find page $1"
+    exit 1
+fi
+ninja -C "@BUILD_ROOT@" "$target"
+exec man build/"$target"
diff --git a/man/meson.build b/man/meson.build
index ae9c941fcda..f3992b28341 100644
--- a/man/meson.build
+++ b/man/meson.build
@@ -204,3 +204,15 @@ if git.found()
                            'mv t @0@/rules/meson.build'.format(meson.current_source_dir())],
                 depend_files : custom_entities_ent)
 endif
+
+############################################################
+
+configure_file(
+        input : 'man.in',
+        output : 'man',
+        configuration : substs)
+
+configure_file(
+        input : 'html.in',
+        output : 'html',
+        configuration : substs)
diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index 95062742395..c7c0c3ffd06 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -283,6 +283,7 @@ substs.set('RC_LOCAL_SCRIPT_PATH_START',                      get_option('rc-loc
 substs.set('RC_LOCAL_SCRIPT_PATH_STOP',                       get_option('halt-local'))
 substs.set('MEMORY_ACCOUNTING_DEFAULT',                       memory_accounting_default ? 'yes' : 'no')
 substs.set('HIGH_RLIMIT_NOFILE',                              conf.get('HIGH_RLIMIT_NOFILE'))
+substs.set('BUILD_ROOT',                                      meson.current_build_dir())
 
 #####################################################################
 
diff --git a/meson_options.txt b/meson_options.txt
index c1cb4617d0f..5d68970ff6b 100644
--- a/meson_options.txt
+++ b/meson_options.txt
@@ -126,6 +126,7 @@ option('hwdb', type : 'boolean',
 option('rfkill', type : 'boolean',
        description : 'support for the rfkill tools')
 option('man', type : 'combo', choices : ['auto', 'true', 'false'],
+       value : 'false',
        description : 'build and install man pages')
 option('html', type : 'combo', choices : ['auto', 'true', 'false'],
        value : 'false',
diff --git a/semaphoreci/semaphore-runner.sh b/semaphoreci/semaphore-runner.sh
index dc1c8ff40c6..1951dcbbada 100755
--- a/semaphoreci/semaphore-runner.sh
+++ b/semaphoreci/semaphore-runner.sh
@@ -88,7 +88,7 @@ EOF
             # disable autopkgtests which are not for upstream
             sed -i '/# NOUPSTREAM/ q' debian/tests/control
             # enable more unit tests
-            sed -i '/^CONFFLAGS =/ s/=/= -Dtests=unsafe -Dsplit-usr=true -Dslow-tests=true /' debian/rules
+            sed -i '/^CONFFLAGS =/ s/=/= -Dtests=unsafe -Dsplit-usr=true -Dslow-tests=true -Dman=true /' debian/rules
             # no orig tarball
             echo '1.0' > debian/source/format
 
diff --git a/travis-ci/managers/debian.sh b/travis-ci/managers/debian.sh
index 72ffcee439b..df26b16e2c5 100755
--- a/travis-ci/managers/debian.sh
+++ b/travis-ci/managers/debian.sh
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ for phase in "${PHASES[@]}"; do
             if [[ "$phase" = "RUN_CLANG" ]]; then
                 ENV_VARS="-e CC=clang -e CXX=clang++"
             fi
-            docker exec $ENV_VARS -it $CONT_NAME meson --werror -Dtests=unsafe -Dslow-tests=true -Dsplit-usr=true build
+            docker exec $ENV_VARS -it $CONT_NAME meson --werror -Dtests=unsafe -Dslow-tests=true -Dsplit-usr=true -Dman=true build
             $DOCKER_EXEC ninja -v -C build
             docker exec -e "TRAVIS=$TRAVIS" -it $CONT_NAME ninja -C build test
             $DOCKER_EXEC tools/check-directives.sh
diff --git a/travis-ci/managers/fedora.sh b/travis-ci/managers/fedora.sh
index 760ed5b1ea5..f821ee26408 100755
--- a/travis-ci/managers/fedora.sh
+++ b/travis-ci/managers/fedora.sh
@@ -53,7 +53,7 @@ for phase in "${PHASES[@]}"; do
             $DOCKER_EXEC tools/check-directives.sh
             ;;
         RUN_CLANG)
-            docker exec -e CC=clang -e CXX=clang++ -it $CONT_NAME meson --werror -Dtests=unsafe -Dslow-tests=true build
+            docker exec -e CC=clang -e CXX=clang++ -it $CONT_NAME meson --werror -Dtests=unsafe -Dslow-tests=true -Dman=true build
             $DOCKER_EXEC ninja -v -C build
             $DOCKER_EXEC ninja -C build test
             ;;
diff --git a/travis-ci/managers/xenial.sh b/travis-ci/managers/xenial.sh
index 33b40e63c51..8995a51f84e 100755
--- a/travis-ci/managers/xenial.sh
+++ b/travis-ci/managers/xenial.sh
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ cd ${REPO_ROOT:-$(pwd)}
 
 sed -i 's/2\.30/2.27/' meson.build
 
-meson --werror -Db_sanitize=address,undefined -Dsplit-usr=true build
+meson --werror -Db_sanitize=address,undefined -Dsplit-usr=true -Dman=true build
 ninja -v -C build
 
 make -C test/TEST-01-BASIC clean setup run NSPAWN_TIMEOUT=600 TEST_NO_QEMU=yes NSPAWN_ARGUMENTS=--keep-unit RUN_IN_UNPRIVILEGED_CONTAINER=no