diff --git a/man/html.in b/man/html.in
index 23b77ebbb0..c142f581de 100755
--- a/man/html.in
+++ b/man/html.in
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ target="man/$1.html"
 ninja -C "@BUILD_ROOT@" "$target"
 
 fullname="@BUILD_ROOT@/$target"
-redirect="$(readlink "$fullname" 2>/dev/null)"
+redirect="$(test -f "$fullname" && readlink "$fullname" || :)"
 if [ -n "$redirect" ]; then
     ninja -C "@BUILD_ROOT@" "man/$redirect"