--- a/scripts/Makefile.am
+++ b/scripts/Makefile.am
@@ -320,22 +320,20 @@
 	$(MKDIR_P) time
 	: > time/$(octave_dirstamp)
 
-## Program compiled only to help build documentation.  No installation needed.
-noinst_PROGRAMS = gethelp
+if AMCOND_BUILD_DOCS
 
-gethelp_SOURCES = gethelp.cc
-
-.DOCSTRINGS: $(FCN_FILES) $(GEN_FCN_FILES) mkdoc $(gethelp_SOURCES) Makefile
-	@$(MAKE) $(AM_MAKEFLAGS) gethelp$(BUILD_EXEEXT)
+.DOCSTRINGS: $(FCN_FILES) $(GEN_FCN_FILES) mkdoc.pl Makefile
 	if [ "x$(srcdir)" != "x." ] && [ -f $(srcdir)/DOCSTRINGS ] && [ ! -f DOCSTRINGS ]; then \
 		cp $(srcdir)/DOCSTRINGS DOCSTRINGS; \
 		touch -r $(srcdir)/DOCSTRINGS DOCSTRINGS; \
 	fi
 	@echo "creating .DOCSTRINGS from .m script files"
-	@$(srcdir)/mkdoc "$(srcdir)" $(FCN_FILES) -- $(GEN_FCN_FILES) > $@
+	@$(PERL) $(srcdir)/mkdoc.pl "$(srcdir)" $(FCN_FILES) -- $(GEN_FCN_FILES) > $@
 	$(top_srcdir)/build-aux/move-if-change $@ DOCSTRINGS
 	touch $@
 
+endif
+
 $(GEN_FCN_FILES) : %.m : %.in Makefile
 	@$(do_subst_config_vals)
 
@@ -421,7 +419,7 @@
   $(FCN_FILES_IN) \
   $(GEN_FCN_FILES) \
   DOCSTRINGS \
-  mkdoc \
+  mkdoc.pl \
   mk-pkg-add
 
 DISTCLEANFILES = \

deleted file mode 100644
--- a/scripts/gethelp.cc
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,160 +0,0 @@
-/*
-
-Copyright (C) 1999-2012 John W. Eaton
-
-This file is part of Octave.
-
-Octave is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
-under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the
-Free Software Foundation; either version 3 of the License, or (at your
-option) any later version.
-
-Octave is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT
-ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or
-FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU General Public License
-for more details.
-
-You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
-along with Octave; see the file COPYING.  If not, see
-<http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
-
-*/
-
-#include <cstdio>
-
-#include <iostream>
-#include <string>
-
-static bool
-looks_like_octave_copyright (const std::string& s)
-{
-  // Perhaps someday we will want to do more here, so leave this as a
-  // separate function.
-
-  return (s.substr (0, 9) == "Copyright" || s.substr (0, 6) == "Author");
-}
-
-// Eat whitespace and comments from FFILE, returning the text of the
-// first block of comments that doesn't look like a copyright notice,
-
-static std::string
-extract_help_text (void)
-{
-  std::string help_txt;
-
-  bool first_comments_seen = false;
-  bool begin_comment = false;
-  bool have_help_text = false;
-  bool in_comment = false;
-  bool discard_space = true;
-  int c;
-
-  while ((c = std::cin.get ()) != EOF)
-    {
-      if (begin_comment)
-        {
-          if (c == '%' || c == '#')
-            continue;
-          else if (discard_space && c == ' ')
-            {
-              discard_space = false;
-              continue;
-            }
-          else
-            begin_comment = false;
-        }
-
-      if (in_comment)
-        {
-          if (! have_help_text)
-            {
-              first_comments_seen = true;
-              help_txt += static_cast<char> (c);
-            }
-
-          if (c == '\n')
-            {
-              in_comment = false;
-              discard_space = true;
-
-              if ((c = std::cin.get ()) != EOF)
-                {
-                  if (c == '\n')
-                    break;
-                }
-              else
-                break;
-            }
-        }
-      else
-        {
-          switch (c)
-            {
-            case ' ':
-            case '\t':
-              if (first_comments_seen)
-                have_help_text = true;
-              break;
-
-            case '\n':
-              if (first_comments_seen)
-                have_help_text = true;
-              continue;
-
-            case '%':
-            case '#':
-              begin_comment = true;
-              in_comment = true;
-              break;
-
-            default:
-              goto done;
-            }
-        }
-    }
-
- done:
-
-  if (! help_txt.empty ())
-    {
-      if (looks_like_octave_copyright (help_txt))
-        help_txt.resize (0);
-
-      if (help_txt.empty ())
-        help_txt = extract_help_text ();
-    }
-
-  return help_txt;
-}
-
-int
-main (int argc, char **argv)
-{
-  std::string name;
-  std::string file_name;
-
-  if (argc != 3)
-    {
-      std::cerr << "usage: gethelp name file-name\n";
-      return 1;
-    }
-  else
-    {
-      name = argv[1];
-      file_name = argv[2];
-    }
-
-  std::string help_text = extract_help_text ();
-
-  if (! help_text.empty ())
-    {
-      std::cout << "" << name << "\n"
-                << "@c " << name << " " << file_name << "\n"
-                << help_text;
-
-      if (help_text[help_text.length () - 1] != '\n')
-        std::cout << "\n";
-    }
-
-  return 0;
-}

new file mode 100755
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/mkdoc.pl
@@ -0,0 +1,104 @@
+#! /usr/bin/perl -w
+#
+# Copyright (C) 2012 Rik Wehbring
+#
+# This file is part of Octave.
+#
+# Octave is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
+# under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the
+# Free Software Foundation; either version 3 of the License, or (at
+# your option) any later version.
+#
+# Octave is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT
+# ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or
+# FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU General Public License
+# for more details.
+#
+# You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+# along with Octave; see the file COPYING.  If not, see
+# <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+
+## Expecting arguments in this order:
+##
+##  SRCDIR SRCDIR-FILES ... -- LOCAL-FILES ...
+
+unless (@ARGV >= 2) { die "Usage: $0 srcdir m_filename1 ..." ; }
+
+$srcdir = shift (@ARGV) . '/';
+
+print <<__END_OF_MSG__;
+### DO NOT EDIT!
+###
+### This file is generated automatically from Octave source files.
+### Edit source files directly and run make to update this file.
+
+__END_OF_MSG__
+
+MFILE: foreach $m_fname (@ARGV)
+{
+  if ($m_fname eq "--")
+  {
+    $srcdir = "./";
+    next MFILE;
+  }
+
+  $full_fname = $srcdir . $m_fname;
+  next MFILE unless ( $full_fname =~ m{(.*)/(@|)([^/]*)/(.*)\.m} );
+  if ($2) {
+    $fcn = "$2$3/$4";
+  } else {
+    $fcn = $4;
+  }
+
+  @help_txt = mygethelp ($fcn, $full_fname);
+  next MFILE if ($help_txt[0] eq "");
+
+  print "$fcn\n";
+  print "\@c $fcn scripts/$m_fname\n";
+
+  foreach $_ (@help_txt)
+  {
+    s/^\s+\@/\@/ unless $in_example;
+    s/^\s+\@group/\@group/;
+    s/^\s+\@end\s+group/\@end group/;
+    $in_example = (/\s*\@example\b/ .. /\s*\@end\s+example\b/);
+    print $_;
+  }
+}
+
+################################################################################
+# Subroutines
+################################################################################
+sub mygethelp
+{
+  ($fcn, $fname) = @_[0..1]; 
+  open (FH, $fname) or return "";
+
+  do
+  {
+    @help_txt = ();
+
+    ## Advance to non-blank line
+    while (defined ($_ = <FH>) and /^\s*$/) {;}
+
+    if (! /^\s*(?:#|%)/ or eof (FH))
+    {
+      ## No comment block found.  Return empty string
+      close (FH);
+      return "";
+    }
+
+    ## Extract help text stopping when comment block ends
+    do
+    {
+      ## Remove comment characters at start of line
+      s/^\s*(?:#|%){1,2} ?//;
+      push (@help_txt, $_);
+    } until (! defined ($_ = <FH>) or ! /^\s*(?:#|%)/);
+
+  } until ($help_txt[0] !~ /^(?:Copyright|Author)/); 
+
+  close (FH);
+
+  return @help_txt;
+}