diff --git a/Documentation/Makefile b/Documentation/Makefile
index a04da672c6..a3868a462f 100644
--- a/Documentation/Makefile
+++ b/Documentation/Makefile
@@ -485,12 +485,16 @@ $(LINT_DOCS_FSCK_MSGIDS): ../fsck.h fsck-msgids.txt
 
 lint-docs-fsck-msgids: $(LINT_DOCS_FSCK_MSGIDS)
 
+lint-docs-manpages:
+	$(QUIET_GEN)./lint-manpages.sh
+
 ## Lint: list of targets above
 .PHONY: lint-docs
 lint-docs: lint-docs-fsck-msgids
 lint-docs: lint-docs-gitlink
 lint-docs: lint-docs-man-end-blurb
 lint-docs: lint-docs-man-section-order
+lint-docs: lint-docs-manpages
 
 ifeq ($(wildcard po/Makefile),po/Makefile)
 doc-l10n install-l10n::
diff --git a/Documentation/lint-manpages.sh b/Documentation/lint-manpages.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000..0abb4e0b4c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Documentation/lint-manpages.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,83 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+
+extract_variable () {
+	(
+		cat ../Makefile
+		cat <<EOF
+print_variable:
+	@\$(foreach b,\$($1),echo XXX \$(b:\$X=) YYY;)
+EOF
+	) |
+	make -C .. -f - print_variable 2>/dev/null |
+	sed -n -e 's/.*XXX \(.*\) YYY.*/\1/p'
+}
+
+check_missing_docs () {
+	for v in $ALL_COMMANDS
+	do
+		case "$v" in
+		git-merge-octopus) continue;;
+		git-merge-ours) continue;;
+		git-merge-recursive) continue;;
+		git-merge-resolve) continue;;
+		git-merge-subtree) continue;;
+		git-fsck-objects) continue;;
+		git-init-db) continue;;
+		git-remote-*) continue;;
+		git-stage) continue;;
+		git-legacy-*) continue;;
+		git-?*--?* ) continue ;;
+		esac
+
+		if ! test -f "$v.txt"
+		then
+			echo "no doc: $v"
+		fi
+
+		if ! sed -e '1,/^### command list/d' -e '/^#/d' ../command-list.txt |
+			grep -q "^$v[ 	]"
+		then
+			case "$v" in
+			git)
+				;;
+			*)
+				echo "no link: $v";;
+			esac
+		fi
+	done
+}
+
+check_extraneous_docs () {
+	(
+		sed -e '1,/^### command list/d' \
+		    -e '/^#/d' \
+		    -e '/guide$/d' \
+		    -e '/interfaces$/d' \
+		    -e 's/[ 	].*//' \
+		    -e 's/^/listed /' ../command-list.txt
+		make print-man1 |
+		grep '\.txt$' |
+		sed -e 's|^|documented |' \
+		    -e 's/\.txt//'
+	) | (
+		all_commands="$(printf "%s " "$ALL_COMMANDS" "$BUILT_INS" "$EXCLUDED_PROGRAMS" | tr '\n' ' ')"
+
+		while read how cmd
+		do
+			case " $all_commands " in
+			*" $cmd "*) ;;
+			*)
+				echo "removed but $how: $cmd";;
+			esac
+		done
+	)
+}
+
+BUILT_INS="$(extract_variable BUILT_INS)"
+ALL_COMMANDS="$(extract_variable ALL_COMMANDS)"
+EXCLUDED_PROGRAMS="$(extract_variable EXCLUDED_PROGRAMS)"
+
+{
+	check_missing_docs
+	check_extraneous_docs
+} | sort
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 59d98ba688..84e2aa9686 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -3757,42 +3757,6 @@ ALL_COMMANDS += scalar
 .PHONY: check-docs
 check-docs::
 	$(MAKE) -C Documentation lint-docs
-	@(for v in $(patsubst %$X,%,$(ALL_COMMANDS)); \
-	do \
-		case "$$v" in \
-		git-merge-octopus | git-merge-ours | git-merge-recursive | \
-		git-merge-resolve | git-merge-subtree | \
-		git-fsck-objects | git-init-db | \
-		git-remote-* | git-stage | git-legacy-* | \
-		git-?*--?* ) continue ;; \
-		esac ; \
-		test -f "Documentation/$$v.txt" || \
-		echo "no doc: $$v"; \
-		sed -e '1,/^### command list/d' -e '/^#/d' command-list.txt | \
-		grep -q "^$$v[ 	]" || \
-		case "$$v" in \
-		git) ;; \
-		*) echo "no link: $$v";; \
-		esac ; \
-	done; \
-	( \
-		sed -e '1,/^### command list/d' \
-		    -e '/^#/d' \
-		    -e '/guide$$/d' \
-		    -e '/interfaces$$/d' \
-		    -e 's/[ 	].*//' \
-		    -e 's/^/listed /' command-list.txt; \
-		$(MAKE) -C Documentation print-man1 | \
-		grep '\.txt$$' | \
-		sed -e 's|^|documented |' \
-		    -e 's/\.txt//'; \
-	) | while read how cmd; \
-	do \
-		case " $(patsubst %$X,%,$(ALL_COMMANDS) $(BUILT_INS) $(EXCLUDED_PROGRAMS)) " in \
-		*" $$cmd "*)	;; \
-		*) echo "removed but $$how: $$cmd" ;; \
-		esac; \
-	done ) | sort
 
 ### Make sure built-ins do not have dups and listed in git.c
 #