diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 0810f94ea..9ff608393 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -269,6 +269,16 @@ if( BUILD_STARTTDE )
 endif()
 
 
+##### Determine whether older manpage support is used ##########
+
+if( EXISTS "/usr/sbin/makewhatis" )
+  set( WITH_MAKEWHATIS "1" )
+  message( STATUS "Selected makewhatis for tdeio-man on your system" )
+else()
+  message( STATUS "Selected man-db for tdeio-man on your system" )
+endif()
+
+
 ##### write configure files #####################
 
 configure_file( config.h.cmake config.h @ONLY )
diff --git a/config.h.cmake b/config.h.cmake
index 3b8dbfa1c..282e3a80d 100644
--- a/config.h.cmake
+++ b/config.h.cmake
@@ -192,3 +192,6 @@
 
 // Defined when wanting ksmserver shutdown debugging timing markers in .xsession-errors
 #cmakedefine BUILD_PROFILE_SHUTDOWN 1
+
+// Use makewhatis manpage support
+#cmakedefine WITH_MAKEWHATIS "@WITH_MAKEWHATIS@"
diff --git a/tdeioslave/man/tdeio_man.cpp b/tdeioslave/man/tdeio_man.cpp
index d48fd9746..07636c0a3 100644
--- a/tdeioslave/man/tdeio_man.cpp
+++ b/tdeioslave/man/tdeio_man.cpp
@@ -46,6 +46,8 @@
 #include <kfilterbase.h>
 #include <kfilterdev.h>
 
+#include "config.h"
+
 using namespace TDEIO;
 
 MANProtocol *MANProtocol::_self = 0;
@@ -569,6 +571,26 @@ char *MANProtocol::readManPage(const char *_filename)
         }
         lastdir = filename.left(filename.findRev('/'));
     
+#ifdef WITH_MAKEWHATIS
+        TQIODevice *fd= KFilterDev::deviceForFile(filename);
+
+        if ( !fd || !fd->open(IO_ReadOnly))
+        {
+           delete fd;
+           return 0;
+        }
+        TQByteArray array(fd->readAll());
+        kdDebug(7107) << "read " << array.size() << endl;
+        fd->close();
+        delete fd;
+
+        if (array.isEmpty())
+            return 0;
+
+        const int len = array.size();
+        buf = new char[len + 4];
+        tqmemmove(buf + 1, array.data(), len);
+#else
         myStdStream = TQString::null;
         TDEProcess proc;
         /* TODO: detect availability of 'man --recode' so that this can go
@@ -583,6 +605,7 @@ char *MANProtocol::readManPage(const char *_filename)
         const int len = cstr.size()-1;
         buf = new char[len + 4];
         tqmemmove(buf + 1, cstr.data(), len);
+#endif
         buf[0]=buf[len]='\n'; // Start and end with a end of line
         buf[len+1]=buf[len+2]='\0'; // Two NUL characters at end
     }