diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 21c43b6490..822b15b4b7 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -135,6 +135,7 @@ AC_PATH_PROG(bison, bison, false)
 NEED_PROG(perl, perl)
 NEED_PROG(tar, tar)
 AC_PATH_PROG(dot, dot)
+AC_PATH_PROG(dblatex, dblatex)
 
 AC_PATH_PROG(openssl_prog, openssl, openssl) # if not found, call openssl in $PATH
 AC_SUBST(openssl_prog)
diff --git a/doc/manual/Makefile.am b/doc/manual/Makefile.am
index ac030ee56a..1011ee7aa1 100644
--- a/doc/manual/Makefile.am
+++ b/doc/manual/Makefile.am
@@ -47,6 +47,14 @@ manual.html: $(MANUAL_SRCS) manual.is-valid images
 	$(XSLTPROC) --nonet --xinclude --output manual.html \
 	  $(docbookxsl)/html/docbook.xsl manual.xml
 
+manual.pdf: $(MANUAL_SRCS) manual.is-valid images
+	if test "$(dblatex)" != ""; then \
+		$(dblatex) manual.xml; \
+	else \
+		echo "Please install dblatex and rerun configure."; \
+		exit 1; \
+	fi
+
 
 NEWS_OPTS = \
  --stringparam generate.toc "article nop" \