diff --git a/debian/changelog b/debian/changelog
index 96cbc13..0082c1c 100644
--- a/debian/changelog
+++ b/debian/changelog
@@ -3,8 +3,9 @@ emdebian-rootfs (2.0.4) unstable; urgency=low
   * [INTL:fr] French manpage translation update (Closes: #552198)
   * Check for symlinks from lib64 to /lib and warn if not unset.
     (Closes: #553599)
+  * Use genmanpages code from svn-buildpackage for translated content.
 
- -- Neil Williams <codehelp@debian.org>  Sun, 01 Nov 2009 14:52:05 +0000
+ -- Neil Williams <codehelp@debian.org>  Sun, 01 Nov 2009 16:09:56 +0000
 
 emdebian-rootfs (2.0.3) unstable; urgency=low
 
diff --git a/doc/Makefile b/doc/Makefile
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4e96902
--- /dev/null
+++ b/doc/Makefile
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+
+all:
+
+clean:
+	$(RM) *~ *.tmp
+	$(RM) -r html/* *.1
+	$(RM) -r svn-buildpackage
diff --git a/doc/genmanpages b/doc/genmanpages
index 9b66904..e2f0a62 100755
--- a/doc/genmanpages
+++ b/doc/genmanpages
@@ -16,38 +16,45 @@ 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/>.
 
+# DEFAULTS:
 # 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"
+CONFIG="po4a.config"
+# PODIR po directory for manpages/docs
+PODIR="po"
 # POTFILE path
-POTFILE="po/emdebian-rootfs.pot"
+POTFILE=""
+# base directory for generated files, e.g. doc
+BASEDIR=""
 # The scripts with translated output
-SCRIPTS="em_multistrap"
-# The language to declare for the SCRIPTS
-SCRIPTS_LANG="perl"
+SCRIPTS=""
+# The language to declare for the SCRIPTS (xgettext)
+SCRIPTS_LANG=""
 # the binary packages that will contain generated manpages
-BINARIES="emdebian-rootfs multistrap"
+BINARIES=""
 # the binary packages with manpages in Section 3.
-HASMAN3="emdebian-rootfs"
+HASMAN3=""
 # the binary packages using DocBook XML & xsltproc
-XMLPACKAGES="emdebian-rootfs"
+XMLPACKAGES=""
 # the DocBook XML files (TODO: let this take paths)
-XMLFILE="emdebian-rootfs.1.xml"
-# the directory containing the XML files
-XMLDIR="doc/xml"
+XMLFILE=""
+# the pattern to find the XML files
+XMLDIR=""
 # the pattern to find the .docbook files
 DOCBOOKDIR=""
 # 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"
+PODFILE=""
 # the binary packages using POD
-PODPACKAGES="multistrap"
-# html output
-HTMLDIR="doc/html"
+PODPACKAGES=""
+# html output (subdirectory of BASEDIR)
+HTMLDIR=""
 # html DocBook file
-HTMLFILE="emdebian-rootfs.1.xml"
+HTMLFILE=""
+# the XSL file to use for Docbook XSL
+HTMLXSL="http://docbook.sourceforge.net/release/xsl/current/html/chunk.xsl"
 
 # remember to add something to the clean:: rule in debian/rules
 # to remove each binary package sub-directory.
@@ -55,6 +62,9 @@ HTMLFILE="emdebian-rootfs.1.xml"
 
 # below this point, no changes should be needed.
 
+# use a default manpages.cnf in the current directory.
+FILE="manpages.conf"
+
 wrap_langs () {
 	if [ -z "$LANGS" ]; then
 		echo "$1 $2" >> $CONFIG
@@ -63,17 +73,63 @@ wrap_langs () {
 	fi
 }
 
-if [ -f po4a.config ]; then
-	cd ../
+usagehelp () {
+	# print out help message
+	cat <<EOF
+genmanpages - po4a frontend
+
+Syntax: genmanpages
+        genmanpages --pot-only
+
+Commands:
+-?|-h|--help|-version:      print this help message and exit
+--pot-only:                 only create the POT file
+
+Options:
+-f|--file FILE:             manpages.conf config file path
+
+EOF
+}
+
+while [ -n "$1" ]; do
+case "$1" in
+	--help|-h|-\?|--version)
+		echo usagehelp
+		exit;
+	;;
+	--pot-only)
+		POTONLY=1
+		break;
+	;;
+	-f|--file)
+		shift
+		FILE=$1
+		break;
+	;;
+	*)
+		echo "Unrecognised command: $1"
+	exit;
+	;;
+esac
+done
+
+if [ ! -f "debian/changelog" ]; then
+	echo "genmanpages started from the wrong directory.";
+	exit 2
 fi
-if [ -f ../po4a.config ]; then
-	cd ../../
+
+if [ ! -f "$FILE" ]; then
+	# without config, there's nothing to do.
+	echo "Cannot find config file! '$FILE'";
+	exit 3
+else
+	. ./$FILE
 fi
 
 # calculate the langs, automatically.
-LANGS=`ls po/*.po 2>/dev/null || true`
+LANGS=`ls $PODIR/*.po 2>/dev/null || true`
 if [ ! -z "$LANGS" ]; then
-	LANGS=`ls po/*.po | sed -e 's/.*\/\(.*\)\.po/\1 /' || true`
+	LANGS=`ls $PODIR/*.po | sed -e 's/.*\/\(.*\)\.po/\1 /' || true`
 fi
 if [ ! -z "$LANGS" ]; then
 	LANGS=`echo $LANGS|tr -d '\n'`
@@ -83,21 +139,6 @@ if [ ! -z "$LANGS" ]; then
 fi
 wrap_langs "[po4a_paths]" "$POTFILE" "\$lang:po/\$lang.po"
 
-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/
-
 #for file in $SCRIPTS; do
 #	wrap_langs "[type:$SCRIPTS_LANG]" "$file"
 #done
@@ -107,14 +148,34 @@ for file in $XMLDIR/*.xml; do
 done
 for file in $DOCBOOKDIR; do
 	LOCAL=`basename $file`
-	wrap_langs "[type:docbook]" "$file" "\$lang:doc/\$lang/$LOCAL"
+	wrap_langs "[type:docbook]" "$file" "\$lang:$BASEDIR/\$lang/$LOCAL"
 done
 if [ -n "$PODFILE" ]; then
 	for file in "$PODFILE"; do
-		wrap_langs "[type:pod]" "$file" "\$lang:doc/pod/\$lang/$file"
+		wrap_langs "[type:pod]" "$file" "\$lang:$BASEDIR/pod/\$lang/$file"
 	done
 fi
 
+if [ "$POTONLY" = "1" ]; then
+	po4a --no-translations $CONFIG
+	exit
+fi
+
+for d in $BINARIES; do
+	for l in $LANGS; do
+		mkdir -p $BASEDIR/$d/man/$l/man1/
+		if [ "$d" = "$HASMAN3" ]; then
+			mkdir -p $BASEDIR/$d/man/$l/man3/
+		fi
+		mkdir -p $BASEDIR/$d/$l/html/
+	done
+	mkdir -p $BASEDIR/$d/man/man1/
+	if [ "$d" = "$HASMAN3" ]; then
+		mkdir -p $BASEDIR/$d/man/man3/
+	fi
+	mkdir -p $BASEDIR/pod/$l/
+done
+
 # use -k to create all XML even if untranslated or the XSL breaks the build.
 po4a -k 0 $CONFIG
 
@@ -122,51 +183,46 @@ for d in $BINARIES; do
 	for P in $XMLPACKAGES; do
 		for X in $XMLFILE; do
 			XML_CATALOG_FILES="/etc/xml/catalog" \
-			xsltproc -o doc/$P/man/ --nonet $XSLFILE $XMLDIR/$X
+			xsltproc -o $BASEDIR/$P/man/ --nonet $XSLFILE $XMLDIR/$X
 		done
 		if [ "$d" = "$HASMAN3" ]; then
-			mv doc/$P/man/*.3 doc/$P/man/man3/
+			mv $BASEDIR/$P/man/*.3 $BASEDIR/$P/man/man3/
 		else
-			rm -f doc/$P/man/*.3
+			rm -f $BASEDIR/$P/man/*.3
 		fi
-		mv doc/$P/man/*.1 doc/$P/man/man1/
+		mv $BASEDIR/$P/man/*.1 $BASEDIR/$P/man/man1/
 	done
 	for POD in $PODPACKAGES; do
-		pod2man $PODFILE > doc/$POD/man/man1/$PODFILE.1
+		pod2man $PODFILE > $BASEDIR/$POD/man/man1/$PODFILE.1
 	done
-	mkdir -p $HTMLDIR/$d/
-	xsltproc -o $HTMLDIR/$d/ --nonet \
-		http://docbook.sourceforge.net/release/xsl/current/html/chunk.xsl \
-		$XMLDIR/$HTMLFILE
+	xsltproc -o $BASEDIR/$d/html/ --nonet $HTMLXSL $XMLDIR/$HTMLFILE
 	for l in $LANGS; do
 		for P in $XMLPACKAGES; do
 			for X in $XMLFILE; do
 				XML_CATALOG_FILES="/etc/xml/catalog" \
-				xsltproc -o doc/$P/man/ --nonet $XSLFILE $XMLDIR/$l/$X
+				xsltproc -o $BASEDIR/$P/man/ --nonet $XSLFILE $XMLDIR/$l/$X
 			done
 			if [ "$d" = "$HASMAN3" ]; then
-				mv doc/$P/man/*.3 doc/$P/man/$l/man3/
+				mv $BASEDIR/$P/man/*.3 $BASEDIR/$P/man/$l/man3/
 			else
-				rm -f doc/$P/man/*.3
+				rm -f $BASEDIR/$P/man/*.3
 			fi
-			mv doc/$P/man/*.1 doc/$P/man/$l/man1/
+			mv $BASEDIR/$P/man/*.1 $BASEDIR/$P/man/$l/man1/
 		done
 		for POD in $PODPACKAGES; do
-			pod2man doc/pod/$l/$PODFILE > doc/$POD/man/$l/man1/$PODFILE.1
+			pod2man $BASEDIR/pod/$l/$PODFILE > $BASEDIR/$POD/man/$l/man1/$PODFILE.1
 		done
-		mkdir -p $HTMLDIR/$d/$l/
-		xsltproc -o $HTMLDIR/$d/$l/ --nonet \
-			http://docbook.sourceforge.net/release/xsl/current/html/chunk.xsl \
-			$XMLDIR/$l/$HTMLFILE
+		mkdir -p $BASEDIR/$d/html/$l/
+		xsltproc -o $BASEDIR/$d/html/$l/ --nonet $HTMLXSL $XMLDIR/$l/$HTMLFILE
 	done
-	for i in `ls doc/html/$d/*.html`; do
-		iconv -t utf-8 -f iso8859-1 $i > doc/html/tmp
-		sed < doc/html/tmp > $i -e 's:charset=ISO-8859-1:charset=UTF-8:'
+	for i in `ls $BASEDIR/$d/html/*.html`; do
+		iconv -t utf-8 -f iso8859-1 $i > $BASEDIR/html/tmp
+		sed < $BASEDIR/html/tmp > $i -e 's:charset=ISO-8859-1:charset=UTF-8:'
 	done
-	rm -f doc/html/tmp
+	rm -f $BASEDIR/html/tmp
 done
 
 for l in $LANGS; do
 	rm -rf $XMLDIR/$l
 done
-rm -rf doc/pod/
+rm -rf $BASEDIR/pod/
diff --git a/manpages.conf b/manpages.conf
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7d75f10
--- /dev/null
+++ b/manpages.conf
@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+# name and location of the config file
+# relative to the top level source directory of the translations
+# i.e. the directory containing ./po/
+CONFIG="po4a.config"
+# PODIR po directory for manpages/docs
+PODIR="po"
+# POTFILE path
+POTFILE="po/emdebian-rootfs.pot"
+# base directory for generated files, e.g. doc
+BASEDIR="doc"
+# The scripts with translated output
+SCRIPTS="em_multistrap"
+# The language to declare for the SCRIPTS (xgettext)
+SCRIPTS_LANG="perl"
+# 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 pattern to find the XML files
+XMLDIR="doc/xml/"
+# the pattern to find the .docbook files
+DOCBOOKDIR=""
+# 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"
+# html output (subdirectory of BASEDIR)
+HTMLDIR="html"
+# html DocBook file
+HTMLFILE="emdebian-rootfs.1.xml"
+# the XSL file to use for Docbook XSL
+HTMLXSL="http://docbook.sourceforge.net/release/xsl/current/html/chunk.xsl"