diff --git a/Documentation/Makefile b/Documentation/Makefile
index a74fc0ff3d..e853d89eb5 100644
--- a/Documentation/Makefile
+++ b/Documentation/Makefile
@@ -312,7 +312,7 @@ cmds_txt = cmds-ancillaryinterrogators.txt \
 $(cmds_txt): cmd-list.made
 
 cmd-list.made: cmd-list.perl ../command-list.txt $(MAN1_TXT)
-	$(QUIET_GEN)$(PERL_PATH) ./cmd-list.perl ../command-list.txt $(cmds_txt) $(QUIET_STDERR) && \
+	$(QUIET_GEN)$(PERL_PATH) ./cmd-list.perl .. . $(cmds_txt) && \
 	date >$@
 
 mergetools_txt = mergetools-diff.txt mergetools-merge.txt
diff --git a/Documentation/cmd-list.perl b/Documentation/cmd-list.perl
index 755a110bc4..e260a98977 100755
--- a/Documentation/cmd-list.perl
+++ b/Documentation/cmd-list.perl
@@ -3,12 +3,13 @@
 use File::Compare qw(compare);
 
 sub format_one {
-	my ($out, $nameattr) = @_;
+	my ($source_dir, $out, $nameattr) = @_;
 	my ($name, $attr) = @$nameattr;
+	my ($path) = "$source_dir/Documentation/$name.txt";
 	my ($state, $description);
 	my $mansection;
 	$state = 0;
-	open I, '<', "$name.txt" or die "No such file $name.txt";
+	open I, '<', "$path" or die "No such file $path.txt";
 	while (<I>) {
 		if (/^(?:git|scalar)[a-z0-9-]*\(([0-9])\)$/) {
 			$mansection = $1;
@@ -29,7 +30,7 @@ sub format_one {
 	}
 	close I;
 	if (!defined $description) {
-		die "No description found in $name.txt";
+		die "No description found in $path.txt";
 	}
 	if (my ($verify_name, $text) = ($description =~ /^($name) - (.*)/)) {
 		print $out "linkgit:$name\[$mansection\]::\n\t";
@@ -43,9 +44,9 @@ sub format_one {
 	}
 }
 
-my ($input, @categories) = @ARGV;
+my ($source_dir, $build_dir, @categories) = @ARGV;
 
-open IN, "<$input";
+open IN, "<$source_dir/command-list.txt";
 while (<IN>) {
 	last if /^### command list/;
 }
@@ -63,17 +64,17 @@ close IN;
 
 for my $out (@categories) {
 	my ($cat) = $out =~ /^cmds-(.*)\.txt$/;
-	open O, '>', "$out+" or die "Cannot open output file $out+";
+	my ($path) = "$build_dir/$out";
+	open O, '>', "$path+" or die "Cannot open output file $out+";
 	for (@{$cmds{$cat}}) {
-		format_one(\*O, $_);
+		format_one($source_dir, \*O, $_);
 	}
 	close O;
 
-	if (-f "$out" && compare("$out", "$out+") == 0) {
-		unlink "$out+";
+	if (-f "$path" && compare("$path", "$path+") == 0) {
+		unlink "$path+";
 	}
 	else {
-		print STDERR "$out\n";
-		rename "$out+", "$out";
+		rename "$path+", "$path";
 	}
 }