diff --git a/Documentation/Makefile b/Documentation/Makefile
index d71760b807..1c94531874 100644
--- a/Documentation/Makefile
+++ b/Documentation/Makefile
@@ -42,6 +42,7 @@ man7dir=$(mandir)/man7
 ASCIIDOC=asciidoc
 ASCIIDOC_EXTRA =
 MANPAGE_XSL = manpage-normal.xsl
+XMLTO_EXTRA =
 INSTALL?=install
 RM ?= rm -f
 DOC_REF = origin/man
@@ -93,6 +94,9 @@ else
 	ASCIIDOC_EXTRA += -a git-asciidoc-no-roff
 	endif
 endif
+ifdef MAN_BOLD_LITERAL
+XMLTO_EXTRA += -m manpage-bold-literal.xsl
+endif
 
 #
 # Please note that there is a minor bug in asciidoc.
@@ -192,7 +196,7 @@ $(MAN_HTML): %.html : %.txt
 
 %.1 %.5 %.7 : %.xml
 	$(RM) $@
-	xmlto -m $(MANPAGE_XSL) man $<
+	xmlto -m $(MANPAGE_XSL) $(XMLTO_EXTRA) man $<
 
 %.xml : %.txt
 	$(RM) $@+ $@
diff --git a/Documentation/manpage-bold-literal.xsl b/Documentation/manpage-bold-literal.xsl
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..608eb5df62
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Documentation/manpage-bold-literal.xsl
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+<!-- manpage-bold-literal.xsl:
+     special formatting for manpages rendered from asciidoc+docbook -->
+<xsl:stylesheet xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform"
+		version="1.0">
+
+<!-- render literal text as bold (instead of plain or monospace);
+     this makes literal text easier to distinguish in manpages
+     viewed on a tty -->
+<xsl:template match="literal">
+	<xsl:value-of select="$git.docbook.backslash"/>
+	<xsl:text>fB</xsl:text>
+	<xsl:apply-templates/>
+	<xsl:value-of select="$git.docbook.backslash"/>
+	<xsl:text>fR</xsl:text>
+</xsl:template>
+
+</xsl:stylesheet>