diff --git a/expat/configure.ac b/expat/configure.ac
index a5d1ff93..8a9eddef 100644
--- a/expat/configure.ac
+++ b/expat/configure.ac
@@ -357,11 +357,22 @@ AS_IF([test "x${DOCBOOK_TO_MAN}" != x -a "x$with_docbook" != xno],
   page for xmlwf.])])])
 
 dnl This will make sure that a release tarball shipping a pre-rendered xmlwf man page will
-dnl get it installed, independent of whether some flavor of docbook2man is available.
+dnl get it installed, when no working flavor of docbook2man is available (or wanted).
 dnl This relies on file xmlwf.1 being at least as recent as its source file xmlwf.xml.
 AS_IF([test -f "${srcdir}"/doc/xmlwf.1],
-  [AM_CONDITIONAL(WITH_DOCBOOK, [true])],
-  [AM_CONDITIONAL(WITH_DOCBOOK, [test "x${DOCBOOK_TO_MAN}" != x])])
+  [AM_CONDITIONAL(WITH_MANPAGE, [true])
+   AS_IF([test "x$with_docbook" = xno -o "x${DOCBOOK_TO_MAN}" = x],
+     [AM_CONDITIONAL(WITH_PREBUILT_MANPAGE, [true])
+      AM_CONDITIONAL(WITH_DISTRIBUTABLE_MANPAGE, [false])],
+     [AM_CONDITIONAL(WITH_PREBUILT_MANPAGE, [false])
+      AM_CONDITIONAL(WITH_DISTRIBUTABLE_MANPAGE, [true])])
+   ],
+  [AS_IF([test "x$with_docbook" != xno -a "x${DOCBOOK_TO_MAN}" != x],
+     [AM_CONDITIONAL(WITH_MANPAGE, [true])
+      AM_CONDITIONAL(WITH_DISTRIBUTABLE_MANPAGE, [true])],
+     [AM_CONDITIONAL(WITH_MANPAGE, [false])
+      AM_CONDITIONAL(WITH_DISTRIBUTABLE_MANPAGE, [false])])
+   AM_CONDITIONAL(WITH_PREBUILT_MANPAGE, [false])])
 
 dnl Configure CMake file templates
 dnl NOTE: The *_TRUE variables read here are Automake conditionals
diff --git a/expat/doc/Makefile.am b/expat/doc/Makefile.am
index c3a3ce59..751365eb 100644
--- a/expat/doc/Makefile.am
+++ b/expat/doc/Makefile.am
@@ -32,26 +32,24 @@
 
 .PHONY: dist-hook  # not inside conditional to avoid automake warning
 
-if WITH_DOCBOOK
+if WITH_MANPAGE
 dist_man_MANS = xmlwf.1
 
 xmlwf.1: xmlwf.xml
 	-rm -f $@
-	$(DOCBOOK_TO_MAN) $<
+	test x$(DOCBOOK_TO_MAN) != x && $(DOCBOOK_TO_MAN) $<
 	test -f $@ || mv XMLWF.1 $@
-else
+endif
+
+if !WITH_DISTRIBUTABLE_MANPAGE
 dist-hook:
 	@echo 'ERROR: Configure with --with-docbook for "make dist".' 1>&2
 	@false
 endif
 
-# https://www.gnu.org/software/automake/manual/automake.html#What-Gets-Cleaned
-.PHONY: clean-local
-clean-local: clean-local-check
-
-.PHONY: clean-local-check
-clean-local-check:
-	$(RM) xmlwf.1
+if !WITH_PREBUILT_MANPAGE
+CLEANFILES = xmlwf.1
+endif
 
 EXTRA_DIST = \
     ok.min.css \