diff --git a/Makefile.config.in b/Makefile.config.in
index 6e12afbce39..797b99f8050 100644
--- a/Makefile.config.in
+++ b/Makefile.config.in
@@ -14,8 +14,6 @@ curl = @curl@
 datadir = @datadir@
 datarootdir = @datarootdir@
 dblatex = @dblatex@
-docbookrng = @docbookrng@
-docbookxsl = @docbookxsl@
 docdir = @docdir@
 exec_prefix = @exec_prefix@
 includedir = @includedir@
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 2806b37b0f8..622cf1e2045 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -176,17 +176,6 @@ AC_ARG_WITH(coreutils-bin, AC_HELP_STRING([--with-coreutils-bin=PATH],
 AC_SUBST(coreutils)
 
 
-AC_ARG_WITH(docbook-rng, AC_HELP_STRING([--with-docbook-rng=PATH],
-  [path of the DocBook RelaxNG schema]),
-  docbookrng=$withval, docbookrng=/docbook-rng-missing)
-AC_SUBST(docbookrng)
-
-AC_ARG_WITH(docbook-xsl, AC_HELP_STRING([--with-docbook-xsl=PATH],
-  [path of the DocBook XSL stylesheets]),
-  docbookxsl=$withval, docbookxsl=/docbook-xsl-missing)
-AC_SUBST(docbookxsl)
-
-
 AC_ARG_WITH(store-dir, AC_HELP_STRING([--with-store-dir=PATH],
   [path of the Nix store (defaults to /nix/store)]),
   storedir=$withval, storedir='/nix/store')
diff --git a/doc/manual/installation/building-source.xml b/doc/manual/installation/building-source.xml
index 2202ec73feb..772cda9cc36 100644
--- a/doc/manual/installation/building-source.xml
+++ b/doc/manual/installation/building-source.xml
@@ -46,12 +46,4 @@ packages will need to be built from source.</para></warning>
 <filename>/nix/var</filename> by default.  This can be changed using
 <option>--localstatedir=<replaceable>path</replaceable></option>.</para>
 
-<para>If you want to rebuild the documentation, pass the full path to
-the DocBook RELAX NG schemas and to the DocBook XSL stylesheets using
-the
-<option>--with-docbook-rng=<replaceable>path</replaceable></option>
-and
-<option>--with-docbook-xsl=<replaceable>path</replaceable></option>
-options.</para>
-
-</section>
\ No newline at end of file
+</section>
diff --git a/doc/manual/local.mk b/doc/manual/local.mk
index a4df921b466..4caef57783c 100644
--- a/doc/manual/local.mk
+++ b/doc/manual/local.mk
@@ -9,6 +9,8 @@ XSLTPROC = $(xsltproc) --nonet $(xmlflags) \
   --param contrib.inline.enabled 0 \
   --stringparam generate.toc "book toc"
 
+docbookxsl = http://docbook.sourceforge.net/release/xsl-ns/1.78.1/
+
 MANUAL_SRCS := $(call rwildcard, $(d), *.xml)
 
 
@@ -24,7 +26,7 @@ $(d)/version.txt:
 $(d)/manual.is-valid: $(d)/manual.xmli
 	$(trace-gen) $(XSLTPROC) --novalid --stringparam profile.condition manual \
 	  $(docbookxsl)/profiling/profile.xsl $< 2> /dev/null | \
-	  $(xmllint) --nonet --noout --relaxng $(docbookrng)/docbook.rng -
+	  $(xmllint) --nonet --noout --relaxng http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/5.0/rng/docbook.rng -
 	@touch $@
 
 clean-files += $(d)/manual.xmli $(d)/version.txt $(d)/manual.is-valid
diff --git a/release.nix b/release.nix
index 8a360e18a6f..f0129f607a2 100644
--- a/release.nix
+++ b/release.nix
@@ -25,11 +25,10 @@ let
         buildInputs =
           [ curl bison flex perl libxml2 libxslt bzip2
             tetex dblatex nukeReferences pkgconfig sqlite
+            docbook5 docbook5_xsl
           ] ++ lib.optional (!lib.inNixShell) git;
 
         configureFlags = ''
-          --with-docbook-rng=${docbook5}/xml/rng/docbook
-          --with-docbook-xsl=${docbook5_xsl}/xml/xsl/docbook
           --with-dbi=${perlPackages.DBI}/${perl.libPrefix}
           --with-dbd-sqlite=${perlPackages.DBDSQLite}/${perl.libPrefix}
           --with-www-curl=${perlPackages.WWWCurl}/${perl.libPrefix}