diff --git a/meson_options.txt b/meson_options.txt
index c1cb4617d0..5d68970ff6 100644
--- a/meson_options.txt
+++ b/meson_options.txt
@@ -126,6 +126,7 @@ option('hwdb', type : 'boolean',
 option('rfkill', type : 'boolean',
        description : 'support for the rfkill tools')
 option('man', type : 'combo', choices : ['auto', 'true', 'false'],
+       value : 'false',
        description : 'build and install man pages')
 option('html', type : 'combo', choices : ['auto', 'true', 'false'],
        value : 'false',
diff --git a/semaphoreci/semaphore-runner.sh b/semaphoreci/semaphore-runner.sh
index 5117bb4861..bc320962c1 100755
--- a/semaphoreci/semaphore-runner.sh
+++ b/semaphoreci/semaphore-runner.sh
@@ -87,7 +87,7 @@ EOF
             # disable autopkgtests which are not for upstream
             sed -i '/# NOUPSTREAM/ q' debian/tests/control
             # enable more unit tests
-            sed -i '/^CONFFLAGS =/ s/=/= -Dtests=unsafe -Dsplit-usr=true -Dslow-tests=true /' debian/rules
+            sed -i '/^CONFFLAGS =/ s/=/= -Dtests=unsafe -Dsplit-usr=true -Dslow-tests=true -Dman=true /' debian/rules
             # no orig tarball
             echo '1.0' > debian/source/format
 
diff --git a/travis-ci/managers/debian.sh b/travis-ci/managers/debian.sh
index 72ffcee439..df26b16e2c 100755
--- a/travis-ci/managers/debian.sh
+++ b/travis-ci/managers/debian.sh
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ for phase in "${PHASES[@]}"; do
             if [[ "$phase" = "RUN_CLANG" ]]; then
                 ENV_VARS="-e CC=clang -e CXX=clang++"
             fi
-            docker exec $ENV_VARS -it $CONT_NAME meson --werror -Dtests=unsafe -Dslow-tests=true -Dsplit-usr=true build
+            docker exec $ENV_VARS -it $CONT_NAME meson --werror -Dtests=unsafe -Dslow-tests=true -Dsplit-usr=true -Dman=true build
             $DOCKER_EXEC ninja -v -C build
             docker exec -e "TRAVIS=$TRAVIS" -it $CONT_NAME ninja -C build test
             $DOCKER_EXEC tools/check-directives.sh
diff --git a/travis-ci/managers/fedora.sh b/travis-ci/managers/fedora.sh
index 760ed5b1ea..f821ee2640 100755
--- a/travis-ci/managers/fedora.sh
+++ b/travis-ci/managers/fedora.sh
@@ -53,7 +53,7 @@ for phase in "${PHASES[@]}"; do
             $DOCKER_EXEC tools/check-directives.sh
             ;;
         RUN_CLANG)
-            docker exec -e CC=clang -e CXX=clang++ -it $CONT_NAME meson --werror -Dtests=unsafe -Dslow-tests=true build
+            docker exec -e CC=clang -e CXX=clang++ -it $CONT_NAME meson --werror -Dtests=unsafe -Dslow-tests=true -Dman=true build
             $DOCKER_EXEC ninja -v -C build
             $DOCKER_EXEC ninja -C build test
             ;;
diff --git a/travis-ci/managers/xenial.sh b/travis-ci/managers/xenial.sh
index 4822bdd4b7..71a65e406d 100755
--- a/travis-ci/managers/xenial.sh
+++ b/travis-ci/managers/xenial.sh
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ cd $REPO_ROOT
 
 sed -i 's/2\.30/2.27/' meson.build
 
-meson --werror -Db_sanitize=address,undefined -Dsplit-usr=true build
+meson --werror -Db_sanitize=address,undefined -Dsplit-usr=true -Dman=true build
 ninja -v -C build
 make -C test/TEST-01-BASIC clean setup run TEST_NO_QEMU=yes NSPAWN_ARGUMENTS=--keep-unit RUN_IN_UNPRIVILEGED_CONTAINER=no