diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 1a01c26cf..2232749cb 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -31,3 +31,13 @@ core.*
 /.project
 /.settings/
 
+# manuals
+doc/manuals/*.html
+doc/manuals/*.svg
+doc/manuals/*.pdf
+doc/manuals/*__*.png
+doc/manuals/*.check
+doc/manuals/generated/
+doc/manuals/osmocombb-usermanual.xml
+doc/manuals/common
+doc/manuals/build
diff --git a/doc/manuals/Makefile.am b/doc/manuals/Makefile
similarity index 61%
rename from doc/manuals/Makefile.am
rename to doc/manuals/Makefile
index 61ccafab8..603f4ba67 100644
--- a/doc/manuals/Makefile.am
+++ b/doc/manuals/Makefile
@@ -1,7 +1,5 @@
-OSMO_GSM_MANUALS_DIR = $(top_srcdir)
-EXTRA_DIST = osmocombb-usermanual.adoc \
-	osmocombb-usermanual-docinfo.xml \
-	chapters
+OSMO_GSM_MANUALS_DIR := $(shell ./osmo-gsm-manuals-dir.sh)
+srcdir=$(CURDIR)
 
 ASCIIDOC = osmocombb-usermanual.adoc
 ASCIIDOC_DEPS = $(srcdir)/chapters/*.adoc
diff --git a/doc/manuals/osmo-gsm-manuals-dir.sh b/doc/manuals/osmo-gsm-manuals-dir.sh
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..f132eaae8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/doc/manuals/osmo-gsm-manuals-dir.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+#!/bin/sh -e
+# Find OSMO_GSM_MANUALS_DIR and print it to stdout. Print where it was taken from to stderr.
+
+# Find it in env, pkg-conf and ../../../osmo-gsm-manuals
+RET="$OSMO_GSM_MANUALS_DIR"
+if [ -n "$RET" ]; then
+	RET="$(realpath $RET)"
+	echo "OSMO_GSM_MANUALS_DIR: $RET (from env)" >&2
+else
+	RET="$(pkg-config osmo-gsm-manuals --variable=osmogsmmanualsdir 2>/dev/null || true)"
+	if [ -n "$RET" ]; then
+		echo "OSMO_GSM_MANUALS_DIR: $RET (from pkg-conf)" >&2
+	else
+		RET="$(realpath $(realpath $(dirname $0))/../../../osmo-gsm-manuals)"
+		echo "OSMO_GSM_MANUALS_DIR: $RET (fallback)" >&2
+	fi
+fi
+
+# Print the result or error message
+if [ -d "$RET" ]; then
+	echo "$RET"
+else
+	echo "ERROR: OSMO_GSM_MANUALS_DIR does not exist!" >&2
+	echo "Install osmo-gsm-manuals or set OSMO_GSM_MANUALS_DIR." >&2
+	exit 1
+fi