diff --git a/pkgs/os-specific/linux/conky/default.nix b/pkgs/os-specific/linux/conky/default.nix
index 62c883b6ab89..46b749f55e87 100644
--- a/pkgs/os-specific/linux/conky/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/os-specific/linux/conky/default.nix
@@ -8,6 +8,12 @@
 , ibmSupport          ? true # IBM/Lenovo notebooks
 
 # optional features with extra dependencies
+
+# ouch, this is ugly, but this gives the man page
+, docsSupport         ? true, docbook2x, libxslt ? null
+                            , man ? null, less ? null
+                            , docbook_xsl ? null , docbook_xml_dtd_44 ? null
+
 , ncursesSupport      ? true      , ncurses       ? null
 , x11Support          ? true      , xlibsWrapper           ? null
 , xdamageSupport      ? x11Support, libXdamage    ? null
@@ -27,6 +33,10 @@
 , libxml2 ? null
 }:
 
+assert docsSupport         -> docbook2x != null && libxslt != null
+                           && man != null && less != null
+                           && docbook_xsl != null && docbook_xml_dtd_44 != null;
+
 assert ncursesSupport      -> ncurses != null;
 
 assert x11Support          -> xlibsWrapper != null;
@@ -63,11 +73,20 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   postPatch = ''
     sed -i -e '/include.*CheckIncludeFile)/i include(CheckIncludeFiles)' \
       cmake/ConkyPlatformChecks.cmake
+  '' + optionalString docsSupport ''
+    # Drop examples, since they contain non-ASCII characters that break docbook2x :(
+    sed -i 's/ Example: .*$//' doc/config_settings.xml
+
+    substituteInPlace cmake/Docbook.cmake \
+      --replace "http://docbook.sourceforge.net/release/xsl/current/html/docbook.xsl" "${docbook_xsl}/xml/xsl/docbook/html/docbook.xsl"
+    substituteInPlace doc/docs.xml \
+      --replace "http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.4/docbookx.dtd" "${docbook_xml_dtd_44}/xml/dtd/docbook/docbookx.dtd"
   '';
 
   NIX_LDFLAGS = "-lgcc_s";
 
   buildInputs = [ pkgconfig glib cmake ]
+    ++ optionals docsSupport        [ docbook2x libxslt man less ]
     ++ optional  ncursesSupport     ncurses
     ++ optional  x11Support         xlibsWrapper
     ++ optional  xdamageSupport     libXdamage
@@ -82,6 +101,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
     ;
 
   cmakeFlags = [ "-DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release" ]
+    ++ optional docsSupport         "-DMAINTAINER_MODE=ON"
     ++ optional curlSupport         "-DBUILD_CURL=ON"
     ++ optional (!ibmSupport)       "-DBUILD_IBM=OFF"
     ++ optional imlib2Support       "-DBUILD_IMLIB2=ON"