diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 1bc3cb049a..8d6b558b83 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -347,28 +347,29 @@ QMP/qmp-commands.txt: $(SRC_PATH)/qmp-commands.hx
 qemu-img-cmds.texi: $(SRC_PATH)/qemu-img-cmds.hx
 	$(call quiet-command,sh $(SRC_PATH)/scripts/hxtool -t < $< > $@,"  GEN   $@")
 
+POD2MAN = pod2man --utf8
 qemu.1: qemu-doc.texi qemu-options.texi qemu-monitor.texi
 	$(call quiet-command, \
 	  perl -Ww -- $(SRC_PATH)/scripts/texi2pod.pl $< qemu.pod && \
-	  pod2man --section=1 --center=" " --release=" " qemu.pod > $@, \
+	  $(POD2MAN) --section=1 --center=" " --release=" " qemu.pod > $@, \
 	  "  GEN   $@")
 
 qemu-img.1: qemu-img.texi qemu-img-cmds.texi
 	$(call quiet-command, \
 	  perl -Ww -- $(SRC_PATH)/scripts/texi2pod.pl $< qemu-img.pod && \
-	  pod2man --section=1 --center=" " --release=" " qemu-img.pod > $@, \
+	  $(POD2MAN) --section=1 --center=" " --release=" " qemu-img.pod > $@, \
 	  "  GEN   $@")
 
 fsdev/virtfs-proxy-helper.1: fsdev/virtfs-proxy-helper.texi
 	$(call quiet-command, \
 	  perl -Ww -- $(SRC_PATH)/scripts/texi2pod.pl $< fsdev/virtfs-proxy-helper.pod && \
-	  pod2man --section=1 --center=" " --release=" " fsdev/virtfs-proxy-helper.pod > $@, \
+	  $(POD2MAN) --section=1 --center=" " --release=" " fsdev/virtfs-proxy-helper.pod > $@, \
 	  "  GEN   $@")
 
 qemu-nbd.8: qemu-nbd.texi
 	$(call quiet-command, \
 	  perl -Ww -- $(SRC_PATH)/scripts/texi2pod.pl $< qemu-nbd.pod && \
-	  pod2man --section=8 --center=" " --release=" " qemu-nbd.pod > $@, \
+	  $(POD2MAN) --section=8 --center=" " --release=" " qemu-nbd.pod > $@, \
 	  "  GEN   $@")
 
 dvi: qemu-doc.dvi qemu-tech.dvi
diff --git a/scripts/texi2pod.pl b/scripts/texi2pod.pl
index 9ed056ad1c..94097fb065 100755
--- a/scripts/texi2pod.pl
+++ b/scripts/texi2pod.pl
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@ $fnno = 1;
 $inf = "";
 $ibase = "";
 @ipath = ();
+$encoding = undef;
 
 while ($_ = shift) {
     if (/^-D(.*)$/) {
@@ -97,6 +98,12 @@ while(<$inf>) {
     /^\@setfilename\s+([^.]+)/ and $fn = $1, next;
     /^\@settitle\s+([^.]+)/ and $tl = postprocess($1), next;
 
+    # Look for document encoding
+    /^\@documentencoding\s+([^.]+)/ and do {
+        $encoding = $1 unless defined $encoding;
+        next;
+    };
+
     # Identify a man title but keep only the one we are interested in.
     /^\@c\s+man\s+title\s+([A-Za-z0-9-]+)\s+(.+)/ and do {
 	if (exists $defs{$1}) {
@@ -336,6 +343,8 @@ $inf = pop @instack;
 
 die "No filename or title\n" unless defined $fn && defined $tl;
 
+print "=encoding $encoding\n\n" if defined $encoding;
+
 $sects{NAME} = "$fn \- $tl\n";
 $sects{FOOTNOTES} .= "=back\n" if exists $sects{FOOTNOTES};