diff --git a/newlib/Makefile.am b/newlib/Makefile.am
index ee580075e..20ab1633b 100644
--- a/newlib/Makefile.am
+++ b/newlib/Makefile.am
@@ -364,6 +364,7 @@ doc/makedoc:
 
 # Recursive targets for man and install-man
 man:
+	(cd doc && $(MAKE) man-cache) || exit 1; \
 	for d in $(SUBDIRS); do \
 	  if test "$$d" != "."; then \
 	    (cd $$d && $(MAKE) man) || exit 1; \
diff --git a/newlib/Makefile.in b/newlib/Makefile.in
index c04da3c02..f0296b667 100644
--- a/newlib/Makefile.in
+++ b/newlib/Makefile.in
@@ -1116,6 +1116,7 @@ doc/makedoc:
 
 # Recursive targets for man and install-man
 man:
+	(cd doc && $(MAKE) man-cache) || exit 1; \
 	for d in $(SUBDIRS); do \
 	  if test "$$d" != "."; then \
 	    (cd $$d && $(MAKE) man) || exit 1; \
diff --git a/newlib/doc/Makefile.am b/newlib/doc/Makefile.am
index 99afb41f1..dbebfcc9a 100644
--- a/newlib/doc/Makefile.am
+++ b/newlib/doc/Makefile.am
@@ -21,3 +21,8 @@ ACLOCAL_AMFLAGS = -I .. -I ../..
 CONFIG_STATUS_DEPENDENCIES = $(newlib_basedir)/configure.host
 
 man:
+
+man-cache:
+	${srcdir}/makedocbook.py --cache
+
+.PHONY: man-cache
diff --git a/newlib/doc/Makefile.in b/newlib/doc/Makefile.in
index de17da7ff..a12872d93 100644
--- a/newlib/doc/Makefile.in
+++ b/newlib/doc/Makefile.in
@@ -358,6 +358,11 @@ makedoc.o: makedoc.c
 
 man:
 
+man-cache:
+	${srcdir}/makedocbook.py --cache
+
+.PHONY: man-cache
+
 # Tell versions [3.59,3.63) of GNU make to not export all variables.
 # Otherwise a system limit (for SysV at least) may be exceeded.
 .NOEXPORT:
diff --git a/newlib/doc/makedocbook.py b/newlib/doc/makedocbook.py
index 1b4f5ab33..0c84e3c47 100755
--- a/newlib/doc/makedocbook.py
+++ b/newlib/doc/makedocbook.py
@@ -824,8 +824,12 @@ def main(file):
 if __name__ == '__main__' :
     options = OptionParser()
     options.add_option('-v', '--verbose', action='count', dest = 'verbose')
+    options.add_option('-c', '--cache', action='store_true', dest = 'cache', help="just ensure PLY cache is up to date")
     (opts, args) = options.parse_args()
 
+    if opts.cache:
+	sys.exit()
+
     verbose = opts.verbose
 
     if len(args) > 0: