diff --git a/tools/perf/Documentation/Makefile b/tools/perf/Documentation/Makefile
index 9f2e44f..8cb65ea 100644
--- a/tools/perf/Documentation/Makefile
+++ b/tools/perf/Documentation/Makefile
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+include ../config/utilities.mak
+
 OUTPUT := ./
 ifeq ("$(origin O)", "command line")
   ifneq ($(O),)
@@ -64,6 +66,7 @@ MAKEINFO=makeinfo
 INSTALL_INFO=install-info
 DOCBOOK2X_TEXI=docbook2x-texi
 DBLATEX=dblatex
+XMLTO=xmlto
 ifndef PERL_PATH
 	PERL_PATH = /usr/bin/perl
 endif
@@ -71,6 +74,15 @@ endif
 -include ../config.mak.autogen
 -include ../config.mak
 
+have_asciidoc := $(call get-executable,$(ASCIIDOC))
+have_xmlto := $(call get-executable,$(XMLTO))
+ifeq ($(have_asciidoc),)
+	missing_tools = true
+endif
+ifeq ($(have_xmlto),)
+	missing_tools = true
+endif
+
 #
 # For asciidoc ...
 #	-7.1.2,	no extra settings are needed.
@@ -170,7 +182,11 @@ pdf: $(OUTPUT)user-manual.pdf
 
 install: install-man
 
-install-man: man
+check-man-tools:
+	$(call check-executable-or-error-out,$(ASCIIDOC))
+	$(call check-executable-or-error-out,$(XMLTO))
+
+do-install-man: man
 	$(INSTALL) -d -m 755 $(DESTDIR)$(man1dir)
 #	$(INSTALL) -d -m 755 $(DESTDIR)$(man5dir)
 #	$(INSTALL) -d -m 755 $(DESTDIR)$(man7dir)
@@ -178,6 +194,20 @@ install-man: man
 #	$(INSTALL) -m 644 $(DOC_MAN5) $(DESTDIR)$(man5dir)
 #	$(INSTALL) -m 644 $(DOC_MAN7) $(DESTDIR)$(man7dir)
 
+install-man: check-man-tools man
+
+try-install-man:
+ifdef missing_tools
+ifeq ($(have_asciidoc),)
+	$(warning Please install the asciidoc package to have the man pages installed)
+endif
+ifeq ($(have_xmlto),)
+	$(warning Please install the xmlto package to have the man pages installed)
+endif
+else
+	$(MAKE) do-install-man
+endif
+
 install-info: info
 	$(INSTALL) -d -m 755 $(DESTDIR)$(infodir)
 	$(INSTALL) -m 644 $(OUTPUT)perf.info $(OUTPUT)perfman.info $(DESTDIR)$(infodir)
@@ -246,7 +276,7 @@ $(MAN_HTML): $(OUTPUT)%.html : %.txt
 
 $(OUTPUT)%.1 $(OUTPUT)%.5 $(OUTPUT)%.7 : $(OUTPUT)%.xml
 	$(QUIET_XMLTO)$(RM) $@ && \
-	xmlto -o $(OUTPUT) -m $(MANPAGE_XSL) $(XMLTO_EXTRA) man $<
+	$(XMLTO) -o $(OUTPUT) -m $(MANPAGE_XSL) $(XMLTO_EXTRA) man $<
 
 $(OUTPUT)%.xml : %.txt
 	$(QUIET_ASCIIDOC)$(RM) $@+ $@ && \
diff --git a/tools/perf/Makefile b/tools/perf/Makefile
index 404fdb4..b14eeb8 100644
--- a/tools/perf/Makefile
+++ b/tools/perf/Makefile
@@ -1041,7 +1041,7 @@ perfexec_instdir = $(prefix)/$(perfexecdir)
 endif
 perfexec_instdir_SQ = $(subst ','\'',$(perfexec_instdir))
 
-install: all install-man
+install: all try-install-man
 	$(INSTALL) -d -m 755 '$(DESTDIR_SQ)$(bindir_SQ)'
 	$(INSTALL) $(OUTPUT)perf '$(DESTDIR_SQ)$(bindir_SQ)'
 	$(INSTALL) -d -m 755 '$(DESTDIR_SQ)$(perfexec_instdir_SQ)/scripts/perl/Perf-Trace-Util/lib/Perf/Trace'
@@ -1067,6 +1067,9 @@ install-doc:
 install-man:
 	$(MAKE) -C Documentation install-man
 
+try-install-man:
+	$(MAKE) -C Documentation try-install-man
+
 install-html:
 	$(MAKE) -C Documentation install-html
 
diff --git a/tools/perf/config/utilities.mak b/tools/perf/config/utilities.mak
index ea853c2..42e264a 100644
--- a/tools/perf/config/utilities.mak
+++ b/tools/perf/config/utilities.mak
@@ -168,6 +168,8 @@ _is-executable-sh = $(call shell-sq,test -f $(1) -a -x $(1) && echo y)
 get-executable = $(if $(1),$(if $(is-absolute),$(_ge-abspath),$(lookup)))
 _ge-abspath = $(if $(is-executable),$(1))
 
+check-executable-or-error-out = $(if $(call get-executable,$(1)),,$(error $(1) not found, please install it on your distro))
+
 # get-supplied-or-default-executable
 #
 # Usage: absolute-executable-path-or-empty = $(call get-executable-or-default,variable,default)