diff --git a/configure b/configure
index f0580ceb5e..b403a04172 100755
--- a/configure
+++ b/configure
@@ -630,6 +630,7 @@ vpath_build
 PROVE
 OSX
 XSLTPROC
+XMLLINT
 DBTOEPUB
 COLLATEINDEX
 DOCBOOKSTYLE
@@ -14654,6 +14655,48 @@ fi
   test -n "$DBTOEPUB" && break
 done
 
+for ac_prog in xmllint
+do
+  # Extract the first word of "$ac_prog", so it can be a program name with args.
+set dummy $ac_prog; ac_word=$2
+{ $as_echo "$as_me:${as_lineno-$LINENO}: checking for $ac_word" >&5
+$as_echo_n "checking for $ac_word... " >&6; }
+if ${ac_cv_prog_XMLLINT+:} false; then :
+  $as_echo_n "(cached) " >&6
+else
+  if test -n "$XMLLINT"; then
+  ac_cv_prog_XMLLINT="$XMLLINT" # Let the user override the test.
+else
+as_save_IFS=$IFS; IFS=$PATH_SEPARATOR
+for as_dir in $PATH
+do
+  IFS=$as_save_IFS
+  test -z "$as_dir" && as_dir=.
+    for ac_exec_ext in '' $ac_executable_extensions; do
+  if as_fn_executable_p "$as_dir/$ac_word$ac_exec_ext"; then
+    ac_cv_prog_XMLLINT="$ac_prog"
+    $as_echo "$as_me:${as_lineno-$LINENO}: found $as_dir/$ac_word$ac_exec_ext" >&5
+    break 2
+  fi
+done
+  done
+IFS=$as_save_IFS
+
+fi
+fi
+XMLLINT=$ac_cv_prog_XMLLINT
+if test -n "$XMLLINT"; then
+  { $as_echo "$as_me:${as_lineno-$LINENO}: result: $XMLLINT" >&5
+$as_echo "$XMLLINT" >&6; }
+else
+  { $as_echo "$as_me:${as_lineno-$LINENO}: result: no" >&5
+$as_echo "no" >&6; }
+fi
+
+
+  test -n "$XMLLINT" && break
+done
+
 for ac_prog in xsltproc
 do
   # Extract the first word of "$ac_prog", so it can be a program name with args.
diff --git a/configure.in b/configure.in
index 527b076205..df868823c0 100644
--- a/configure.in
+++ b/configure.in
@@ -1869,6 +1869,7 @@ PGAC_CHECK_DOCBOOK(4.2)
 PGAC_PATH_DOCBOOK_STYLESHEETS
 PGAC_PATH_COLLATEINDEX
 AC_CHECK_PROGS(DBTOEPUB, dbtoepub)
+AC_CHECK_PROGS(XMLLINT, xmllint)
 AC_CHECK_PROGS(XSLTPROC, xsltproc)
 AC_CHECK_PROGS(OSX, [osx sgml2xml sx])
 
diff --git a/doc/src/sgml/Makefile b/doc/src/sgml/Makefile
index 1d42be8951..8bdd26ce28 100644
--- a/doc/src/sgml/Makefile
+++ b/doc/src/sgml/Makefile
@@ -44,6 +44,10 @@ ifndef OSX
 OSX = $(missing) osx
 endif
 
+ifndef XMLLINT
+XMLLINT = $(missing) xmllint
+endif
+
 ifndef XSLTPROC
 XSLTPROC = $(missing) xsltproc
 endif
@@ -78,6 +82,7 @@ override SPFLAGS += -wall -wno-unused-param -wno-empty -wfully-tagged
 man distprep-man: man-stamp
 
 man-stamp: stylesheet-man.xsl postgres.xml
+	$(XMLLINT) --noout --valid postgres.xml
 	$(XSLTPROC) $(XSLTPROCFLAGS) $(XSLTPROC_MAN_FLAGS) $^
 	touch $@
 
@@ -254,11 +259,13 @@ endif
 xslthtml: xslthtml-stamp
 
 xslthtml-stamp: stylesheet.xsl postgres.xml
+	$(XMLLINT) --noout --valid postgres.xml
 	$(XSLTPROC) $(XSLTPROCFLAGS) $(XSLTPROC_HTML_FLAGS) $^
 	cp $(srcdir)/stylesheet.css html/
 	touch $@
 
 htmlhelp: stylesheet-hh.xsl postgres.xml
+	$(XMLLINT) --noout --valid postgres.xml
 	$(XSLTPROC) $(XSLTPROCFLAGS) $^
 
 %-A4.fo.tmp: stylesheet-fo.xsl %.xml
@@ -268,7 +275,6 @@ htmlhelp: stylesheet-hh.xsl postgres.xml
 	$(XSLTPROC) $(XSLTPROCFLAGS) --stringparam paper.type USletter -o $@ $^
 
 FOP = fop
-XMLLINT = xmllint
 
 # reformat FO output so that locations of errors are easier to find
 %.fo: %.fo.tmp
@@ -281,6 +287,7 @@ XMLLINT = xmllint
 
 epub: postgres.epub
 postgres.epub: postgres.xml
+	$(XMLLINT) --noout --valid $<
 	$(DBTOEPUB) $<
 
 
diff --git a/doc/src/sgml/docguide.sgml b/doc/src/sgml/docguide.sgml
index 0186ef4afb..e0ae262b8a 100644
--- a/doc/src/sgml/docguide.sgml
+++ b/doc/src/sgml/docguide.sgml
@@ -148,6 +148,20 @@
      </listitem>
     </varlistentry>
 
+    <varlistentry>
+     <term><ulink url="http://xmlsoft.org/">Libxml2</ulink> for <command>xmllint</command></term>
+     <listitem>
+      <para>
+       This library and the <command>xmllint</command> tool it contains are
+       used for processing XML.  Many developers will already
+       have <application>Libxml2</application> installed, because it is also
+       used when building the PostgreSQL code.  Note, however,
+       that <command>xmllint</command> might need to be installed from a
+       separate subpackage.
+      </para>
+     </listitem>
+     </varlistentry>
+
     <varlistentry>
      <term><ulink url="http://xmlsoft.org/XSLT/">Libxslt</ulink> for <command>xsltproc</command></term>
      <listitem>
@@ -255,7 +269,7 @@ yum install docbook-dtds docbook-style-dsssl docbook-style-xsl libxslt openjade
     available for <productname>Debian GNU/Linux</productname>.
     To install, simply use:
 <programlisting>
-apt-get install docbook docbook-dsssl docbook-xsl openjade1.3 opensp xsltproc
+apt-get install docbook docbook-dsssl docbook-xsl libxml2-utils openjade1.3 opensp xsltproc
 </programlisting>
    </para>
   </sect2>
diff --git a/src/Makefile.global.in b/src/Makefile.global.in
index e76b22fb2d..7648dba172 100644
--- a/src/Makefile.global.in
+++ b/src/Makefile.global.in
@@ -353,6 +353,7 @@ DOCBOOKSTYLE	= @DOCBOOKSTYLE@
 JADE			= @JADE@
 NSGMLS			= @NSGMLS@
 OSX				= @OSX@
+XMLLINT			= @XMLLINT@
 XSLTPROC		= @XSLTPROC@
 
 # Code coverage