diff --git a/Makefile.am b/Makefile.am
index d29a49d..bc015e2 100644
--- a/Makefile.am
+++ b/Makefile.am
@@ -489,3 +489,6 @@ AM_V_EMACS = $(AM_V_EMACS_$(V))
 AM_V_EMACS_ = $(AM_V_EMACS_$(AM_DEFAULT_VERBOSITY))
 AM_V_EMACS_0 = @echo "  EMACS   " $@;
 
+AM_V_HELP2MAN = $(AM_V_HELP2MAN_$(V))
+AM_V_HELP2MAN_ = $(AM_V_HELP2MAN_$(AM_DEFAULT_VERBOSITY))
+AM_V_HELP2MAN_0 = @echo "  HELP2MAN" $@;
diff --git a/doc.am b/doc.am
index 9e95349..73db930 100644
--- a/doc.am
+++ b/doc.am
@@ -123,7 +123,7 @@ endif
 # Avoid re-generating the man pages when building from tarballs.
 if BUILD_FROM_GIT
 
-gen_man = LANGUAGE= $(top_builddir)/pre-inst-env $(HELP2MAN)
+gen_man = $(AM_V_HELP2MAN)LANGUAGE= $(top_builddir)/pre-inst-env $(HELP2MAN)
 
 doc/guix.1: scripts/guix
 	  $(gen_man) --output="$@" `basename $<`