diff --git a/doc/man/Makefile.in b/doc/man/Makefile.in
index a0fd96815c..ebe21f1998 100644
--- a/doc/man/Makefile.in
+++ b/doc/man/Makefile.in
@@ -185,7 +185,7 @@ html dirhtml:
 
 # copy in out-of-tree files in case sphinx-build isn't available
 .NOTPARALLEL:
-ootsetup:
+ootsetup: $(MANPAGES_IN)
 	for man in $(MANPAGES_IN); do \
 	  [ -e "$$man" ] || cp -f ${srcdir}/"$$man" .; \
 	done