diff --git a/Documentation/meson.build b/Documentation/meson.build
index f4854f802d..cfa9c67609 100644
--- a/Documentation/meson.build
+++ b/Documentation/meson.build
@@ -379,13 +379,18 @@ foreach manpage, category : manpages
       output: fs.stem(manpage) + '.xml',
     )
 
+    man_base_url = 'file://' + htmldir + '/'
+    if get_option('man_base_url') != ''
+      man_base_url = get_option('man_base_url')
+    endif
+
     doc_targets += custom_target(
       command: [
         xmlto,
         '-m', '@INPUT0@',
         '-m', '@INPUT1@',
         '--stringparam',
-        'man.base.url.for.relative.links=' + get_option('prefix') / get_option('mandir'),
+        'man.base.url.for.relative.links=' + man_base_url,
         'man',
         manpage_xml_target,
         '-o',
diff --git a/meson_options.txt b/meson_options.txt
index dc88f130d7..d590c21648 100644
--- a/meson_options.txt
+++ b/meson_options.txt
@@ -111,6 +111,8 @@ option('default_help_format', type: 'combo', choices: ['man', 'html', 'platform'
   description: 'Default format used when executing git-help(1).')
 option('docs_backend', type: 'combo', choices: ['asciidoc', 'asciidoctor', 'auto'], value: 'auto',
   description: 'Which backend to use to generate documentation.')
+option('man_base_url', type: 'string', value: '',
+  description: 'The base URL to use for relative links in manuals')
 
 # Testing.
 option('benchmarks', type: 'feature', value: 'auto',