diff --git a/docs/cmdline-opts/Makefile.am b/docs/cmdline-opts/Makefile.am
index 3467de156..c844bca4f 100644
--- a/docs/cmdline-opts/Makefile.am
+++ b/docs/cmdline-opts/Makefile.am
@@ -73,4 +73,4 @@ EXTRA_DIST = $(DPAGES) MANPAGE.md gen.pl $(OTHERPAGES)
 all: $(MANPAGE)
 
 $(MANPAGE): $(DPAGES) $(OTHERPAGES)
-	@PERL@ gen.pl mainpage > $(MANPAGE)
+	@PERL@ $(srcdir)/gen.pl mainpage $(srcdir) > $(MANPAGE)
diff --git a/docs/cmdline-opts/gen.pl b/docs/cmdline-opts/gen.pl
index 89a5df845..91e893f3e 100755
--- a/docs/cmdline-opts/gen.pl
+++ b/docs/cmdline-opts/gen.pl
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ Unfortunately it seems some perls like msysgit can't handle a global input-only
 =end comment
 =cut
 
-my $some_dir=".";
+my $some_dir=$ARGV[1] || ".";
 
 opendir(my $dh, $some_dir) || die "Can't opendir $some_dir: $!";
 my @s = grep { /\.d$/ && -f "$some_dir/$_" } readdir($dh);
@@ -101,7 +101,7 @@ sub added {
 
 sub single {
     my ($f, $standalone)=@_;
-    open(F, "<:crlf", "$f") ||
+    open(F, "<:crlf", "$some_dir/$f") ||
         return 1;
     my $short;
     my $long;
@@ -235,7 +235,7 @@ sub single {
 
 sub getshortlong {
     my ($f)=@_;
-    open(F, "<:crlf", "$f");
+    open(F, "<:crlf", "$some_dir/$f");
     my $short;
     my $long;
     my $help;
@@ -281,7 +281,7 @@ sub indexoptions {
 
 sub header {
     my ($f)=@_;
-    open(F, "<:crlf", "$f");
+    open(F, "<:crlf", "$some_dir/$f");
     my @d;
     while(<F>) {
         push @d, $_;
@@ -371,7 +371,7 @@ sub getargs {
         }
     } while($f);
 
-    print "Usage: gen.pl <mainpage/listhelp/single FILE/protos>\n";
+    print "Usage: gen.pl <mainpage/listhelp/single FILE/protos> [srcdir]\n";
 }
 
 #------------------------------------------------------------------------
diff --git a/src/Makefile.am b/src/Makefile.am
index 67fa6d70d..19bab68ac 100644
--- a/src/Makefile.am
+++ b/src/Makefile.am
@@ -93,7 +93,7 @@ EXTRA_DIST = mkhelp.pl makefile.dj Makefile.b32		\
  macos/src/curl_GUSIConfig.cpp macos/src/macos_main.cpp makefile.amiga	\
  curl.rc Makefile.netware Makefile.inc Makefile.Watcom CMakeLists.txt
 
-MANPAGE=$(top_srcdir)/docs/curl.1
+MANPAGE=$(top_builddir)/docs/curl.1
 README=$(top_srcdir)/docs/MANUAL
 MKHELP=$(top_srcdir)/src/mkhelp.pl
 HUGE=tool_hugehelp.c
diff --git a/tests/data/test1139 b/tests/data/test1139
index 30f730c2e..17c74097f 100644
--- a/tests/data/test1139
+++ b/tests/data/test1139
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ Verify that all libcurl options have man pages
  </name>
 
 <command type="perl">
-%SRCDIR/manpage-scan.pl %SRCDIR/..
+%SRCDIR/manpage-scan.pl %SRCDIR/.. %PWD/..
 </command>
 </client>
 
diff --git a/tests/manpage-scan.pl b/tests/manpage-scan.pl
index f374be99d..1cc47eb31 100644
--- a/tests/manpage-scan.pl
+++ b/tests/manpage-scan.pl
@@ -39,8 +39,9 @@
 use strict;
 use warnings;
 
-# we may get the dir root pointed out
+# we may get the dir roots pointed out
 my $root=$ARGV[0] || ".";
+my $buildroot=$ARGV[1] || ".";
 my $syms = "$root/docs/libcurl/symbols-in-versions";
 my $curlh = "$root/include/curl/curl.h";
 my $errors=0;
@@ -196,7 +197,7 @@ close(R);
 
 #########################################################################
 # parse the curl.1 man page, extract all documented command line options
-open(R, "<$root/docs/curl.1") ||
+open(R, "<$buildroot/docs/curl.1") ||
     die "no input file";
 my @manpage; # store all parsed parameters
 while(<R>) {