diff --git a/mk/common.mk b/mk/common.mk
index aa59feb200..c3d1993123 100644
--- a/mk/common.mk
+++ b/mk/common.mk
@@ -1,100 +1,106 @@
 #
 # Copyright 2014-2021 the Pacemaker project contributors
 #
 # The version control history for this file may have further details.
 #
 # This source code is licensed under the GNU General Public License version 2
 # or later (GPLv2+) WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY.
 #
 
 #
 # Some variables to help with silent rules
 # https://www.gnu.org/software/automake/manual/html_node/Automake-silent_002drules-Option.html
 
 V ?= $(AM_DEFAULT_VERBOSITY)
 
 # When a make command is prefixed with one of the AM_V_* macros, it may also be
 # desirable to suffix the command with this, to silence stdout.
 PCMK_quiet = $(pcmk_quiet_$(V))
 pcmk_quiet_0 = >/dev/null
 pcmk_quiet_1 = 
 
 # AM_V_GEN is intended to be used in custom pattern rules, and replaces echoing
 # the command used with a more concise line with "GEN" and the name of the file
 # being generated. Our AM_V_* macros are similar but more descriptive.
 AM_V_MAN = $(am__v_MAN_$(V))
 am__v_MAN_0 = @echo "  MAN      $@";
 am__v_MAN_1 = 
 
 AM_V_SCHEMA = $(am__v_SCHEMA_$(V))
 am__v_SCHEMA_0 = @echo "  SCHEMA   $@";
 am__v_SCHEMA_1 = 
 
 AM_V_BOOK = $(am__v_BOOK_$(V))
 am__v_BOOK_0 = @echo "  BOOK    $(@:%/_build=%): $(BOOK_FORMATS)";
 am__v_BOOK_1 = 
 
 MAINTAINERCLEANFILES	= Makefile.in
 
 AM_CPPFLAGS		= -I$(top_builddir)/include -I$(top_srcdir)/include   \
 			  -I$(top_builddir)/libltdl -I$(top_srcdir)/libltdl
 
 #
 # Man page builders
 #
 # We have three types of man pages:
 # - man pages for the tools
 # - man pages for OCF agents
 # - man pages for cluster properties used by daemons
 #
 # "BUILD_HELP" actually means "help2man is available", so it only controls the
 # tool man pages, which are generated by help2man. The other man pages are
 # generated via XSL transforms.
 #
 
 if BUILD_HELP
 man8_MANS		= $(sbin_PROGRAMS:%=%.8) $(sbin_SCRIPTS:%=%.8)
 
 HELP2MAN_ARGS = -N --section 8 --name "Part of the Pacemaker cluster resource manager"
 
 # Some of our tools' help are just shell script invocations of another tool's
 # help. Putting the real tool in MAN8DEPS helps detect when the wrapped help
 # needs updating.
 #
 # If a ".inc" file exists, the tool has been converted to use glib for
 # argument parsing, otherwise it still uses the libcrmcommon functions.
 #
 # @TODO Drop MAN8DEPS once we've converted all tools to libpacemaker API calls
 #       and all wrappers to C code.
 %.8:	% $(MAN8DEPS)
 	$(AM_V_at)chmod a+x $(abs_builddir)/$<
+	PATH=$(abs_builddir):$$PATH $(abs_builddir)/$< --version >/dev/null
+	if [ -f $(abs_srcdir)/$@.inc ]; then \
+		PATH=$(abs_builddir):$$PATH $(abs_builddir)/$< --help-all >/dev/null; \
+	else \
+		PATH=$(abs_builddir):$$PATH $(abs_builddir)/$< --help >/dev/null; \
+	fi
 	$(AM_V_MAN)if [ -f $(abs_srcdir)/$@.inc ]; then			\
 		PATH=$(abs_builddir):$$PATH $(HELP2MAN) $(HELP2MAN_ARGS)	\
 			-h --help-all 						\
 			--no-discard-stderr 					\
 			-i $(abs_srcdir)/$@.inc $(abs_builddir)/$<		\
 			| sed -f $(top_srcdir)/tools/fix-manpages > $@ ; \
 	else									\
 		PATH=$(abs_builddir):$$PATH $(HELP2MAN) $(HELP2MAN_ARGS)	\
 			--no-discard-stderr 					\
 			$(abs_builddir)/$< --output $@ ;			\
 	fi
 endif
 
 # Save raw XML meta-data from daemon executables, for later conversion into man
 # pages. (Note that more specific rules may override this for creating other
 # types of XML files.)
 %.xml:  %
 	$(AM_V_at)$(abs_builddir)/$< metadata > $@
 
 # Process the raw daemon and OCF agent meta-data output using our
 # meta-data-to-docbook-XML tranform.
 %.dbook: %.xml
 	$(AM_V_at)$(XSLTPROC) --nonet --novalid --stringparam man.name $* \
 		$(DBOOK_OPTS) $(top_srcdir)/xml/ocf-meta2man.xsl \
 		$(abs_builddir)/$< > $(abs_builddir)/$@
 
 # Generate the actual man page for an OCF resource agent from the intermediate
 # docbook XML.
 %.7:	%.dbook
 	$(AM_V_MAN)$(XSLTPROC) $(MANPAGE_XSLT) $(abs_builddir)/$< $(PCMK_quiet)