diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index db1de0fce6..975476e726 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -700,16 +700,16 @@ NUT_REPORT_FEATURE([build and install documentation], [${nut_with_doc}], [],
 DOC_INSTALL_DISTED_MANS=no
 
 case "${nut_with_doc}" in
-	yes|all)
+	yes|all|all=yes)
 		nut_doc_build_list="man html-single html-chunked pdf"
 		;;
-	auto)
+	auto|all=auto)
 		nut_doc_build_list="man=auto html-single=auto html-chunked=auto pdf=auto"
 		;;
-	skip)
+	skip|all=skip)
 		nut_doc_build_list="man=skip html-single=skip html-chunked=skip pdf=skip"
 		;;
-	no)
+	no|all=no)
 		nut_doc_build_list=""
 		;;
 dnl If user passed --with-doc='' they they want nothing, right?
@@ -897,6 +897,15 @@ esac
 NUT_REPORT_FEATURE([build specific documentation format(s)], [${nut_with_doc}], [${DOC_BUILD_LIST}],
 					[WITH_DOCS], [Define to enable overall documentation generation])
 
+# To cater for less portable make's, precalculate the target list
+# for "make check" in "docs/" here...
+DOC_CHECK_LIST=""
+if test "${nut_with_doc}" = yes ; then
+    for V in $DOC_BUILD_LIST ; do
+        DOC_CHECK_LIST="$DOC_CHECK_LIST check-$V"
+    done
+fi
+
 WITH_MANS=no
 SKIP_MANS=no
 if echo "${DOC_BUILD_LIST}" | grep -w "man" >/dev/null || test "${DOC_INSTALL_DISTED_MANS}" = "yes" ; then
@@ -1711,6 +1720,7 @@ AC_SUBST(LIBMODBUS_LIBS)
 AC_SUBST(LIBIPMI_CFLAGS)
 AC_SUBST(LIBIPMI_LIBS)
 AC_SUBST(DOC_BUILD_LIST)
+AC_SUBST(DOC_CHECK_LIST)
 AC_SUBST(LIBWRAP_CFLAGS)
 AC_SUBST(LIBWRAP_LIBS)
 AC_SUBST(LIBLTDL_CFLAGS)
diff --git a/docs/Makefile.am b/docs/Makefile.am
index ede141b5d9..06fdfa8418 100644
--- a/docs/Makefile.am
+++ b/docs/Makefile.am
@@ -74,6 +74,8 @@ SUFFIXES = .txt .html .pdf
 
 all: doc
 
+check-local: @DOC_CHECK_LIST@
+
 doc: @DOC_BUILD_LIST@
 
 pdf: $(ASCIIDOC_PDF)
@@ -81,8 +83,44 @@ pdf: $(ASCIIDOC_PDF)
 html-single: $(ASCIIDOC_HTML_SINGLE)
 html-chunked: $(ASCIIDOC_HTML_CHUNKED)
 
+# the "for" loops might better use $^ but it might be not portable
+check-pdf: $(ASCIIDOC_PDF)
+	@FAILED=""; LANG=C; LC_ALL=C; export LANG; export LC_ALL; \
+	for F in $(ASCIIDOC_PDF) ; do \
+	    test -s "$$F" && { file "$$F" | egrep 'PDF document' > /dev/null ; } || FAILED="$$FAILED $$F" ; \
+	done; if test -n "$$FAILED" ; then \
+	    echo "FAILED PDF sanity check for:$$FAILED" >&2 ; file $$FAILED >&2 ; exit 1; \
+	fi; echo "PASSED PDF sanity check"; exit 0
+
+check-html-single: $(ASCIIDOC_HTML_SINGLE)
+	@FAILED=""; LANG=C; LC_ALL=C; export LANG; export LC_ALL; \
+	for F in $(ASCIIDOC_HTML_SINGLE) ; do \
+	    test -s "$$F" && { file "$$F" | egrep '(XML|HTML.*document)' > /dev/null ; } || FAILED="$$FAILED $$F" ; \
+	done; if test -n "$$FAILED" ; then \
+	    echo "FAILED HTML-single sanity check for:$$FAILED" >&2 ; file $$FAILED >&2 ; exit 1; \
+	fi; echo "PASSED HTML-single sanity check"; exit 0
+
+check-html-chunked: $(ASCIIDOC_HTML_CHUNKED)
+	@FAILED=""; LANG=C; LC_ALL=C; export LANG; export LC_ALL; \
+	for D in $(ASCIIDOC_HTML_CHUNKED); do \
+	    for F in "$$D"/*.html ; do \
+	        test -s "$$F" && { file "$$F" | egrep '(XML|HTML.*document)' > /dev/null ; } || FAILED="$$FAILED $$F" ; \
+	    done; \
+	    for F in "$$D"/*.css ; do \
+	        test -s "$$F" && { egrep 'CSS stylesheet' "$$F" > /dev/null ; } || FAILED="$$FAILED $$F" ; \
+	    done; \
+	done; if test -n "$$FAILED" ; then \
+	    echo "FAILED HTML-chunked sanity check for:$$FAILED" >&2 ; file $$FAILED >&2 ; exit 1; \
+	fi; echo "PASSED HTML-chunked sanity check"; exit 0
+
+# Note: usually the results from man-page check will be reported twice:
+# once as a SUBDIRS child makefile, and once via DOC_CHECK_LIST expansion
+check-man:
+	cd $(top_builddir)/docs/man/ && $(MAKE) -f Makefile $@
+
 clean-local:
-	rm -rf *.pdf *.html *.chunked docbook-xsl.css *.bak
+	rm -f *.pdf *.html docbook-xsl.css
+	rm -rf *.chunked *.bak
 
 ### TODO: automatic dependency generation
 # Add other directory deps (not for local EXTRA_DIST) and generated contents
diff --git a/docs/man/Makefile.am b/docs/man/Makefile.am
index 86434fb33d..235e333251 100644
--- a/docs/man/Makefile.am
+++ b/docs/man/Makefile.am
@@ -686,7 +686,7 @@ if ! SKIP_MANS
 # runs ./configure --with-doc=skip (or --with-doc=man=skip specifically)
 EXTRA_DIST += dist
 dist:
-	echo "ERROR: Manpage building was disabled by configure script, and these pages are required for our proper 'make dist'" >&2 ; false
+	@echo "ERROR: Manpage building was disabled by configure script, and these pages are required for our proper 'make dist'" >&2 ; false
 endif
 endif
 
@@ -719,6 +719,62 @@ all:
 
 html-man: $(HTML_MANS) index.html
 
+if WITH_MANS
+if ! SKIP_MANS
+check-local: check-man
+else
+check-local: check-man-txt check-man-pages
+	@echo "Man-page generation was SKIPPED per user request, so pregenerated pages were sanity-checked (if any)" >&2
+endif
+else
+check-local: check-man-txt check-man-pages
+	@echo "Man-page generation was not done, so pregenerated pages were sanity-checked (if any)" >&2
+endif
+
+check-man: check-man-txt check-man-pages check-html-man
+
+# the "for" loops might better use $^ but it might be not portable
+check-man-html: check-html-man
+
+check-html-man: $(HTML_MANS)
+	@FAILED=""; CHECKED=0; LANG=C; LC_ALL=C; export LANG; export LC_ALL; \
+	for F in $(HTML_MANS) ; do \
+	    CHECKED="`expr $$CHECKED + 1`"; \
+	    test -s "$$F" && { file "$$F" | egrep '(XML|HTML.*document)' > /dev/null ; } || FAILED="$$FAILED $$F" ; \
+	done; if test -n "$$FAILED" ; then \
+	    echo "FAILED HTML-man sanity check for:$$FAILED" >&2 ; file $$FAILED >&2 ; exit 1; \
+	fi; echo "PASSED HTML-man sanity check (checked $$CHECKED files)"; exit 0
+
+# Note: many man-pages here have code samples and are mis-identified as C code
+check-man-page: check-man-pages
+
+# Man-pages may be pre-generated (srcdir), or re-built (builddir)
+check-man-pages: $(MAN_MANS)
+	@FAILED=""; CHECKED=0; LANG=C; LC_ALL=C; export LANG; export LC_ALL; \
+	for F in $(MAN_MANS) ; do \
+	    CHECKED="`expr $$CHECKED + 1`"; \
+	    ( test -s "$(abs_srcdir)/$$F" && { file "$(abs_srcdir)/$$F" | egrep '(troff.* input|C source|ASCII text)' > /dev/null ; } ) || \
+	    ( test -s "$(abs_builddir)/$$F" && { file "$(abs_builddir)/$$F" | egrep '(troff.* input|C source|ASCII text)' > /dev/null ; } ) || \
+	    FAILED="$$FAILED $$F" ; \
+	done; if test -n "$$FAILED" ; then \
+	    echo "FAILED man-page sanity check for:$$FAILED" >&2 ; \
+	    ( echo "SRCDIR:"; cd "$(abs_srcdir)/" && file $$FAILED ; \
+	      echo "BUILDDIR:"; cd "$(abs_builddir)/" && file $$FAILED ; \
+	    ) >&2 ; exit 1; \
+	fi; echo "PASSED man-page sanity check (checked $$CHECKED files)"; exit 0
+
+check-man-source: check-man-txt
+
+check-man-txt: $(SRC_ALL_PAGES)
+	@FAILED=""; CHECKED=0; LANG=C; LC_ALL=C; export LANG; export LC_ALL; \
+	cd $(abs_srcdir) || exit; \
+	for F in $(SRC_ALL_PAGES) ; do \
+	    CHECKED="`expr $$CHECKED + 1`"; \
+	    test -s "$$F" && { file "$$F" | egrep '(ASCII|UTF-8|Unicode|ISO-8859|English).* text' > /dev/null ; } || FAILED="$$FAILED $$F" ; \
+	done; if test -n "$$FAILED" ; then \
+	    echo "FAILED man-source sanity check for:$$FAILED" >&2 ; file $$FAILED >&2 ; exit 1; \
+	fi; echo "PASSED man-source sanity check (checked $$CHECKED files)"; exit 0
+
 CLEANFILES = *.xml *.html
 
 SUFFIXES = .txt .html .1 .3 .5 .8