diff --git a/debian/emdebian-rootfs.install b/debian/emdebian-rootfs.install
index ec50807..5409ffe 100644
--- a/debian/emdebian-rootfs.install
+++ b/debian/emdebian-rootfs.install
@@ -9,10 +9,7 @@ emdebian.gtk ./usr/share/emdebian-tools/
 emdebian.grip ./usr/share/emdebian-tools/
 emdebian.gpe ./usr/share/emdebian-tools/
 emdebian.coreutils ./usr/share/emdebian-tools/
-doc/man/man1/emsandbox.1 ./usr/share/man/man1/
-doc/man/pt/man1/emsandbox.1 ./usr/share/man/pt/man1/
-doc/man/man3/* ./usr/share/man/man3/
-doc/man/pt/man3/* ./usr/share/man/pt/man3/
+doc/emdebian-rootfs/man/* ./usr/share/man/
 examples/packages.conf ./usr/share/doc/emdebian-rootfs/examples/
 examples/setup.sh ./usr/share/doc/emdebian-rootfs/examples/
 examples/config.sh ./usr/share/doc/emdebian-rootfs/examples/
diff --git a/debian/multistrap.install b/debian/multistrap.install
index e3e8b45..aed51ac 100644
--- a/debian/multistrap.install
+++ b/debian/multistrap.install
@@ -1,5 +1,4 @@
 em_multistrap ./usr/sbin/
 multistrap ./usr/sbin/
-doc/man/man1/em_multistrap.1 ./usr/share/man/man1/
-doc/man/pt/man1/em_multistrap.1 ./usr/share/man/pt/man1/
+doc/multistrap/man/* ./usr/share/man/
 bash/multistrap ./etc/bash_completion.d/
diff --git a/debian/rules b/debian/rules
index dcf8533..f6aec52 100755
--- a/debian/rules
+++ b/debian/rules
@@ -11,6 +11,5 @@ install/emdebian-rootfs::
 	po4a --rm-backups doc/po4a.config
 
 clean::
-#	debconf-updatepo
-	rm -rf doc/man/man1 doc/man/man3
+	rm -rf doc/emdebian-rootfs doc/multistrap
 	rm -rf pod2htmd.tmp pod2htmi.tmp
diff --git a/doc/genmanpages b/doc/genmanpages
index cf1e749..0f59155 100755
--- a/doc/genmanpages
+++ b/doc/genmanpages
@@ -16,6 +16,33 @@ set -e
 #  You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
 #  along with this program.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
 
+# name and location of the config file
+# relative to the top level source directory of the translations
+# i.e. the directory containing ./po/
+CONFIG="doc/po4a.config"
+# POTFILE path
+POTFILE="po/emdebian-rootfs.pot"
+# the binary packages that will contain generated manpages
+BINARIES="emdebian-rootfs multistrap"
+# the binary packages with manpages in Section 3.
+HASMAN3="emdebian-rootfs"
+# the binary packages using DocBook XML & xsltproc
+XMLPACKAGES="emdebian-rootfs"
+# the DocBook XML files (TODO: let this take paths)
+XMLFILE="emdebian-rootfs.1.xml"
+# the XSL file to use for Docbook XSL
+XSLFILE="http://docbook.sourceforge.net/release/xsl/current/manpages/docbook.xsl"
+# the POD files (TODO: let this take paths)
+PODFILE="em_multistrap"
+# the binary packages using POD
+PODPACKAGES="multistrap"
+
+# remember to add something to the clean:: rule in debian/rules
+# to remove each binary package sub-directory.
+# $(RM) -r doc/emdebian-rootfs doc/multistrap
+
+# below this point, no changes should be needed.
+
 wrap_langs () {
 	if [ -z "$LANGS" ]; then
 		echo "$1 $2" >> $CONFIG
@@ -30,7 +57,7 @@ fi
 if [ -f ../po4a.config ]; then
 	cd ../../
 fi
-CONFIG="doc/po4a.config"
+
 # calculate the langs, automatically.
 LANGS=`ls po/*.po 2>/dev/null || true`
 if [ ! -z "$LANGS" ]; then
@@ -45,74 +72,73 @@ if [ ! -z "$LANGS" ]; then
 	else
 	echo > $CONFIG
 fi
-wrap_langs "[po4a_paths]" "po/emdebian-rootfs.pot" "\$lang:po/\$lang.po"
-# need to determine directory for the target package.
-# rootfs only has empbuilderlib.3, emrootfslib.3 and emsandbox.1
+wrap_langs "[po4a_paths]" "$POTFILE" "\$lang:po/\$lang.po"
 
-for l in $LANGS; do
-	mkdir -p doc/html/$l/
-	mkdir -p doc/man/$l/man1/
-	mkdir -p doc/man/$l/man3/
+for d in $BINARIES; do
+	for l in $LANGS; do
+		mkdir -p doc/$d/man/$l/man1/
+		if [ "$d" = "$HASMAN3" ]; then
+			mkdir -p doc/$d/man/$l/man3/
+		fi
+	done
+	mkdir -p doc/$d/man/man1/
+	if [ "$d" = "$HASMAN3" ]; then
+		mkdir -p doc/$d/man/man3/
+	fi
 	mkdir -p doc/pod/$l/
 done
-
 mkdir -p doc/html/
-mkdir -p doc/man/man3/
-mkdir -p doc/man/man1/
 
-echo "Checking emrootfslib for POSIX compatibility"
-# doesn't expect a shell library, hence nuisance message
-# about interpreter that just needs to be ignored.
-checkbashisms emrootfslib
-echo "Processing Docbook XML . . . "
 for file in `ls doc/xml/*.xml`; do
 	xmllint --format "$file" --output "$file"
 	LOCAL=`basename $file`
 	wrap_langs "[type:docbook]" "$file" "\$lang:doc/xml/\$lang/$LOCAL"
 done
-echo "Processing POD . . ."
-
-# rootfs
 for file in em_multistrap; do
-	pod2html -outfile doc/html/$file.html -title $file < $file
-	pod2man $file > doc/man/man1/$file.1
 	wrap_langs "[type: pod]" "$file" "\$lang:doc/pod/\$lang/$file"
 done
 
-echo "Refreshing POT file for translators"
 # use -k to create all XML even if untranslated or the XSL breaks the build.
 po4a -k 0 $CONFIG
 
-# just make sure the XML catalog is available for XSL.
-# never go to the internet for build config, use --nonet.
-XML_CATALOG_FILES="/etc/xml/catalog" \
-xsltproc -o doc/man/ --nonet \
-	http://docbook.sourceforge.net/release/xsl/current/manpages/docbook.xsl \
-	doc/xml/emdebian-rootfs.1.xml
-mv doc/man/empbuilderlib.3 doc/man/man3/empbuilderlib.3
-mv doc/man/emrootfslib.3 doc/man/man3/emrootfslib.3
-mv doc/man/emsandbox.1 doc/man/man1/emsandbox.1
-#mv doc/man/*.1 doc/man/man1/
-#mv doc/man/*.3 doc/man/man3/
-
+for d in $BINARIES; do
+	for P in $XMLPACKAGES; do
+		for X in $XMLFILE; do
+			XML_CATALOG_FILES="/etc/xml/catalog" \
+			xsltproc -o doc/man/ --nonet $XSLFILE doc/xml/$X
+		done
+		if [ "$d" = "$HASMAN3" ]; then
+			mv doc/man/*.3 doc/$d/man/man3/
+		fi
+		mv doc/man/*.1 doc/$d/man/man1/
+	done
+	for POD in $PODPACKAGES; do
+		pod2man $POD > doc/$d/man/man1/$POD.1
+	done
+	for l in $LANGS; do
+		for P in $XMLPACKAGES; do
+			for X in $XMLFILE; do
+				XML_CATALOG_FILES="/etc/xml/catalog" \
+				xsltproc -o doc/man/ --nonet $XSLFILE doc/xml/$l/$X
+			done
+			if [ "$d" = "$HASMAN3" ]; then
+				mv doc/man/*.3 doc/$d/man/$l/man3/
+			fi
+			mv doc/man/*.1 doc/$d/man/$l/man1/
+		done
+		for POD in $PODPACKAGES; do
+			pod2man doc/pod/$l/$PODFILE > doc/$d/man/$l/man1/$POD.1
+		done
+	done
+done
 for l in $LANGS; do
-	mkdir -p doc/man/$l/man3/
-	mkdir -p doc/man/$l/man1/
-	XML_CATALOG_FILES="/etc/xml/catalog" \
-	xsltproc -o doc/man/ --nonet \
-		http://docbook.sourceforge.net/release/xsl/current/manpages/docbook.xsl \
-		doc/xml/$l/emdebian-rootfs.1.xml
-	mv doc/man/*.3 doc/man/$l/man3/
-	mv doc/man/*.1 doc/man/$l/man1/
-	pod2man doc/pod/$l/em_multistrap > doc/man/$l/man1/em_multistrap.1
-	xsltproc -o doc/html/$l/ --nonet \
-		http://docbook.sourceforge.net/release/xsl/current/html/chunk.xsl \
-		doc/xml/$l/emdebian-rootfs.1.xml
-	pod2html -outfile doc/html/$l/em_multistrap.html -title em_multistrap < doc/pod/$l/em_multistrap
-	rm -rf xml/$lang
+	rm -rf doc/xml/$l
 done
+rm -rf doc/pod/
 
-# never go to the internet for build config, use -nonet.
+# the rest is specific to emdebian-rootfs - ignore.
+
+# HTML versions, not packaged.
 xsltproc -o doc/html/ --nonet \
 	http://docbook.sourceforge.net/release/xsl/current/html/chunk.xsl \
 	doc/xml/emdebian-rootfs.1.xml
@@ -122,6 +148,3 @@ for i in `ls doc/html/*.html`; do
 	sed < doc/html/tmp > $i -e 's:charset=ISO-8859-1:charset=UTF-8:'
 done
 rm -f doc/html/tmp
-rm -f pod2htmd.tmp
-rm -f pod2htmi.tmp
-rm -rf doc/pod/