diff --git a/Makefile.in b/Makefile.in
index 55c5c43ceb6..ffc6e104078 100644
--- a/Makefile.in
+++ b/Makefile.in
@@ -133,39 +133,6 @@ ifdef CFG_BAD_VALGRIND
   CFG_VALGRIND :=
 endif
 
-DOCS :=
-ifeq ($(CFG_PANDOC),)
-  $(info cfg: no pandoc found, omitting doc/rust.html)
-else
-  DOCS += doc/rust.html
-endif
-
-ifeq ($(CFG_PANDOC),)
-  $(info cfg: no pandoc found, omitting doc/rust.pdf)
-else
-  ifeq ($(CFG_PDFLATEX),)
-    $(info cfg: no pdflatex found, omitting doc/rust.pdf)
-  else
-    DOCS += doc/rust.pdf
-  endif
-endif
-
-ifeq ($(CFG_NODE),)
-  $(info cfg: no node found, omitting doc/tutorial/web)
-else
-  DOCS += doc/tutorial/web/index.html
-endif
-
-ifeq ($(CFG_NATURALDOCS),)
-  $(info cfg: no naturaldocs found, omitting library doc build)
-else
-  DOCS += doc/core/index.html doc/std/index.html
-endif
-
-ifdef CFG_DISABLE_DOCS
-  $(info cfg: disabling doc build (CFG_DISABLE_DOCS))
-  DOCS :=
-endif
 
 ######################################################################
 # Target-and-rule "utility variables"
@@ -431,7 +398,7 @@ CFG_INFO := $(info cfg: *** compiler is in snapshot transition ***)
 CFG_INFO := $(info cfg: *** stage2 and later will not be built ***)
 CFG_INFO := $(info cfg:)
 
-all: $(SREQ1$(CFG_HOST_TRIPLE)) $(GENERATED) $(DOCS)
+all: $(SREQ1$(CFG_HOST_TRIPLE)) $(GENERATED) docs
 
 else
 
@@ -442,7 +409,7 @@ FUZZ := $(HBIN3_H_$(CFG_HOST_TRIPLE))/fuzzer$(X)
 CARGO := $(HBIN3_H_$(CFG_HOST_TRIPLE))/cargo$(X)
 RUSTDOC := $(HBIN3_H_$(CFG_HOST_TRIPLE))/rustdoc$(X)
 
-all: rustc $(GENERATED) $(DOCS) $(FUZZ) $(CARGO) $(RUSTDOC)
+all: rustc $(GENERATED) docs $(FUZZ) $(CARGO) $(RUSTDOC)
 
 endif
 
diff --git a/configure b/configure
index 4009bd2c58a..71ee86389d3 100755
--- a/configure
+++ b/configure
@@ -289,6 +289,8 @@ probe CFG_NATURALDOCS      naturaldocs
 probe CFG_LLNEXTGEN        LLnextgen
 probe CFG_PANDOC           pandoc
 probe CFG_PDFLATEX         pdflatex
+probe CFG_XETEX            xetex
+probe CFG_LUATEX           luatex
 probe CFG_NODE             node
 
 if [ -z "$CFG_NODE" ]
diff --git a/mk/docs.mk b/mk/docs.mk
index 4edc0cc3b8d..60dd912d8c9 100644
--- a/mk/docs.mk
+++ b/mk/docs.mk
@@ -2,16 +2,17 @@
 # Doc variables and rules
 ######################################################################
 
-doc/version.md: $(MKFILE_DEPS) rust.md
-	@$(call E, version-stamp: $@)
-	$(Q)echo "$(CFG_VERSION)" >>$@
+DOCS :=
 
-doc/keywords.md: $(MKFILE_DEPS) rust.md
-	@$(call E, grep -v: $$@)
-	$(Q)grep -v '^#' $< >$@
 
-ifdef CFG_PANDOC
+######################################################################
+# Pandoc (reference-manual related)
+######################################################################
+ifeq ($(CFG_PANDOC),)
+  $(info cfg: no pandoc found, omitting doc/rust.pdf)
+else
 
+DOCS += doc/rust.html
 doc/rust.html: rust.md doc/version.md doc/keywords.md
 	@$(call E, pandoc: $@)
 	$(Q)$(CFG_PANDOC) \
@@ -26,8 +27,17 @@ doc/rust.html: rust.md doc/version.md doc/keywords.md
 	-$(Q)cp -a $(S)doc/rust.css doc/rust.css 2> /dev/null
 
 
-ifdef CFG_PDFLATEX
+  ifeq ($(CFG_PDFLATEX),)
+    $(info cfg: no pdflatex found, omitting doc/rust.pdf)
+  else
+    ifeq ($(CFG_XETEX),)
+      $(info cfg: no xetex found, disabling doc/rust.pdf)
+    else
+      ifeq ($(CFG_LUATEX),)
+        $(info cfg: lacking luatex, disabling pdflatex)
+      else
 
+DOCS += doc/rust.pdf
 doc/rust.tex: rust.md doc/version.md doc/keywords.md
 	@$(call E, pandoc: $@)
 	$(Q)$(CFG_PANDOC) \
@@ -44,24 +54,20 @@ doc/rust.pdf: doc/rust.tex
         -output-directory=doc \
         $<
 
-endif
-
+      endif
+    endif
+  endif
 endif
 
 
-ifdef CFG_NODE
+######################################################################
+# LLnextgen (grammar analysis from refman)
+######################################################################
+ifeq ($(CFG_LLNEXTGEN),)
+  $(info cfg: no llnextgen found, omitting grammar-verification)
+else
+.PHONY: verify-grammar
 
-doc/tutorial/web/index.html: \
-        $(wildcard $(S)doc/tutorial/*.md)
-	@$(call E, cp: $(S)doc/tutorial)
-	-$(Q)cp -a $(S)doc/tutorial doc/ 2> /dev/null
-	@$(call E, node: build.js)
-	$(Q)cd doc/tutorial && $(CFG_NODE) build.js
-
-endif
-
-
-ifdef CFG_LLNEXTGEN
 doc/rust.g: rust.md $(S)src/etc/extract_grammar.py
 	@$(call E, extract_grammar: $@)
 	$(Q)$(S)src/etc/extract_grammar.py $< >$@
@@ -73,11 +79,32 @@ verify-grammar: doc/rust.g
 endif
 
 
-GENERATED += doc/keywords.md doc/version.md
+######################################################################
+# Node (tutorial related)
+######################################################################
+ifeq ($(CFG_NODE),)
+  $(info cfg: no node found, omitting doc/tutorial/web)
+else
 
-docsnap: doc/rust.pdf
-	@$(call E, snap: doc/rust-$(shell date +"%Y-%m-%d")-snap.pdf)
-	$(Q)mv $< doc/rust-$(shell date +"%Y-%m-%d")-snap.pdf
+DOCS += doc/tutorial/web/index.html
+doc/tutorial/web/index.html: \
+        $(wildcard $(S)doc/tutorial/*.md)
+	@$(call E, cp: $(S)doc/tutorial)
+	-$(Q)cp -a $(S)doc/tutorial doc/ 2> /dev/null
+	@$(call E, node: build.js)
+	$(Q)cd doc/tutorial && $(CFG_NODE) build.js
+
+endif
+
+
+
+######################################################################
+# Naturaldocs (library reference related)
+######################################################################
+
+ifeq ($(CFG_NATURALDOCS),)
+  $(info cfg: no naturaldocs found, omitting library doc build)
+else
 
 define libdoc
 doc/$(1)/index.html: nd/$(1)/Languages.txt nd/$(1)/Topics.txt \
@@ -103,10 +130,27 @@ GENERATED += nd/$(1)/Languages.txt \
              nd/$(1)/Data
 
 DOCS += doc/$(1)/index.html nd/$(1)/lib.css
-
 endef
 
 $(eval $(call libdoc,core,$(CORELIB_CRATE) $(CORELIB_INPUTS)))
 $(eval $(call libdoc,std,$(STDLIB_CRATE) $(STDLIB_INPUTS)))
+endif
+
+
+ifdef CFG_DISABLE_DOCS
+  $(info cfg: disabling doc build (CFG_DISABLE_DOCS))
+  DOCS :=
+endif
+
+
+doc/version.md: $(MKFILE_DEPS) rust.md
+	@$(call E, version-stamp: $@)
+	$(Q)echo "$(CFG_VERSION)" >>$@
+
+doc/keywords.md: $(MKFILE_DEPS) rust.md
+	@$(call E, grep -v: $$@)
+	$(Q)grep -v '^#' $< >$@
+
+GENERATED += doc/keywords.md doc/version.md
 
 docs: $(DOCS)