diff --git a/Makefile.am b/Makefile.am
index fe49c641..e1ec0d2c 100644
--- a/Makefile.am
+++ b/Makefile.am
@@ -15,9 +15,6 @@
 # You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
 # along with this program.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
 
-# Rules in man/ use scripts from both bin/ and tests/, so *it* goes last.
-SUBDIRS = . man
-
 ACLOCAL_AMFLAGS = -I m4
 
 ## All of these will be incrementally updated later, here or in included
@@ -27,6 +24,7 @@ MOSTLYCLEANFILES =
 CLEANFILES =
 DISTCLEANFILES =
 MAINTAINERCLEANFILES =
+SUFFIXES =
 
 EXTRA_DIST = ChangeLog.0 ChangeLog.1 ChangeLog.2 ChangeLog.3 \
 	     BUGS COPYINGv3 COPYING.EXCEPTION \
@@ -132,6 +130,7 @@ distclean-local:
 include $(srcdir)/bin/local.mk
 include $(srcdir)/doc/local.mk
 include $(srcdir)/lib/local.mk
+include $(srcdir)/man/local.mk
 include $(srcdir)/tests/local.mk
 
 # Perl coverage statistics.
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 7eda7428..80e0dbd2 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -124,7 +124,6 @@ AC_PROG_GNU_M4
 ## Man pages.  ##
 ## ----------- ##
 
-AC_CONFIG_FILES([man/Makefile])
 AM_MISSING_PROG([HELP2MAN], [help2man])
 
 
diff --git a/lib/freeze.mk b/lib/freeze.mk
index f5e38594..77cb7c44 100644
--- a/lib/freeze.mk
+++ b/lib/freeze.mk
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@
 ## Freeze M4 files.  ##
 ## ----------------- ##
 
-SUFFIXES = .m4 .m4f
+SUFFIXES += .m4 .m4f
 
 AUTOM4TE_CFG = lib/autom4te.cfg
 
diff --git a/man/Makefile.am b/man/local.mk
similarity index 50%
rename from man/Makefile.am
rename to man/local.mk
index b2dddfb5..d5c7716c 100644
--- a/man/Makefile.am
+++ b/man/local.mk
@@ -15,48 +15,50 @@
 # You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
 # along with this program.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
 
-dist_man_MANS = \
-	$(srcdir)/autoconf.1 \
-	$(srcdir)/autoheader.1 \
-	$(srcdir)/autom4te.1 \
-	$(srcdir)/autoreconf.1 \
-	$(srcdir)/autoscan.1 \
-	$(srcdir)/autoupdate.1 \
-	$(srcdir)/ifnames.1 \
-	$(srcdir)/config.guess.1 \
-	$(srcdir)/config.sub.1
+binsrcdir = $(srcdir)/bin
+mansrcdir = $(srcdir)/man
 
-EXTRA_DIST = $(dist_man_MANS:.1=.x) common.x
-MAINTAINERCLEANFILES = $(dist_man_MANS)
+dist_man_MANS = \
+  $(mansrcdir)/autoconf.1 \
+  $(mansrcdir)/autoheader.1 \
+  $(mansrcdir)/autom4te.1 \
+  $(mansrcdir)/autoreconf.1 \
+  $(mansrcdir)/autoscan.1 \
+  $(mansrcdir)/autoupdate.1 \
+  $(mansrcdir)/ifnames.1 \
+  $(mansrcdir)/config.guess.1 \
+  $(mansrcdir)/config.sub.1
+
+EXTRA_DIST += $(dist_man_MANS:.1=.x) man/common.x
+MAINTAINERCLEANFILES += $(dist_man_MANS)
 
 # Depend on .version to get version number changes.
-common_dep = $(top_srcdir)/.version $(srcdir)/common.x
-binsrcdir = $(top_srcdir)/bin
-$(srcdir)/autoconf.1:   $(common_dep) $(binsrcdir)/autoconf.as
-$(srcdir)/autoheader.1: $(common_dep) $(binsrcdir)/autoheader.in
-$(srcdir)/autom4te.1:   $(common_dep) $(binsrcdir)/autom4te.in
-$(srcdir)/autoreconf.1: $(common_dep) $(binsrcdir)/autoreconf.in
-$(srcdir)/autoscan.1:   $(common_dep) $(binsrcdir)/autoscan.in
-$(srcdir)/autoupdate.1: $(common_dep) $(binsrcdir)/autoupdate.in
-$(srcdir)/ifnames.1:    $(common_dep) $(binsrcdir)/ifnames.in
+common_dep = $(srcdir)/.version $(srcdir)/man/common.x
+$(mansrcdir)/autoconf.1:   $(common_dep) $(binsrcdir)/autoconf.as
+$(mansrcdir)/autoheader.1: $(common_dep) $(binsrcdir)/autoheader.in
+$(mansrcdir)/autom4te.1:   $(common_dep) $(binsrcdir)/autom4te.in
+$(mansrcdir)/autoreconf.1: $(common_dep) $(binsrcdir)/autoreconf.in
+$(mansrcdir)/autoscan.1:   $(common_dep) $(binsrcdir)/autoscan.in
+$(mansrcdir)/autoupdate.1: $(common_dep) $(binsrcdir)/autoupdate.in
+$(mansrcdir)/ifnames.1:    $(common_dep) $(binsrcdir)/ifnames.in
 
 # Independent from this package.
-$(srcdir)/config.guess.1: $(top_srcdir)/build-aux/config.guess
-$(srcdir)/config.sub.1:   $(top_srcdir)/build-aux/config.sub
+$(mansrcdir)/config.guess.1: $(srcdir)/build-aux/config.guess
+$(mansrcdir)/config.sub.1:   $(srcdir)/build-aux/config.sub
 
 remove_time_stamp = 's/^\(\.TH[^"]*"[^"]*"[^"]*\)"[^"]*"/\1/'
 
-MOSTLYCLEANFILES = $(srcdir)/*.t
+MOSTLYCLEANFILES += $(srcdir)/man/*.t
 
-SUFFIXES = .x .1
+SUFFIXES += .x .1
 
 .x.1:
 	@echo "Updating man page $@"
-	PATH="$(top_builddir)/tests$(PATH_SEPARATOR)$(top_srcdir)/build-aux$(PATH_SEPARATOR)$$PATH"; \
+	PATH="./tests$(PATH_SEPARATOR)$(top_srcdir)/build-aux$(PATH_SEPARATOR)$$PATH"; \
 	export PATH; \
 	$(HELP2MAN) \
 	    --include=$*.x \
-	    --include=$(srcdir)/common.x \
+	    --include=$(srcdir)/man/common.x \
 	    --source='$(PACKAGE_STRING)' \
 	    --output=$@.t `echo '$*' | sed 's,.*/,,'`
 	if sed $(remove_time_stamp) $@ >$@a.t 2>/dev/null && \