diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index 8303f3c980..d314a4dd65 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,11 @@
+2002-03-01  Michael Meeks  <michael@ximian.com>                                
+       * docs/manual/Makefile.am: use $(wildcard) instead of                   
+       strange shell stuff.                                                    
+                                                                               
+       * tools/Makefile.am: handle conditionals in a compatible way            
+                                                                               
+       * docs/manuals.mak: don't do silly things with if/else                  
+
 2002-01-15  Bastien Nocera  <hadess@hadess.net>
 
 	* tests/Makefile.am: add all the dirs to the DIST_SUBDIRS
diff --git a/docs/fwg/Makefile.am b/docs/fwg/Makefile.am
index 5580b45837..72a07dc4c5 100644
--- a/docs/fwg/Makefile.am
+++ b/docs/fwg/Makefile.am
@@ -1,13 +1,13 @@
 DOC=gst-plugin-writers-guide
 MAIN=$(DOC).xml
-XML=$(shell cd $(srcdir) && echo *.xml)
+XML=$(wildcard *.xml)
 XSLFO=$(srcdir)/../xsl/fo.xsl
 XSLFOMODS=$(srcdir)/../xsl/ulink.xsl $(srcdir)/../xsl/keycombo.xsl
 XSLHTML=$(srcdir)/../xsl/html.xsl
 XSLHTMLMODS=$(srcdir)/../xsl/fileext.xsl $(srcdir)/../xsl/admon.xsl \
 	$(srcdir)/../xsl/keycombo.xsl $(srcdir)/../xsl/css.xsl
 XSLS=$(XSLFO) $(XSLFOMODS) $(XSLHTML) $(XSLHTMLMODS)
-FIGS= # $(shell cd $(srcdir) && echo *.fig) (uncomment when pngs are added)
+FIGS= # $(wildcard *.fig) (uncomment when pngs are added)
 PNGS=$(FIGS:.fig=.png)
 PDFS=$(FIGS:.fig=.pdf)
 SRC=$(XML)
diff --git a/docs/manual/Makefile.am b/docs/manual/Makefile.am
index ff8b0e3227..80bfc1c1f6 100644
--- a/docs/manual/Makefile.am
+++ b/docs/manual/Makefile.am
@@ -1,13 +1,13 @@
 DOC=gstreamer-manual
 MAIN=$(DOC).xml
-XML=$(shell cd $(srcdir) && echo *.xml)
+XML=$(wildcard *.xml)
 XSLFO=$(srcdir)/../xsl/fo.xsl
 XSLFOMODS=$(srcdir)/../xsl/ulink.xsl $(srcdir)/../xsl/keycombo.xsl
 XSLHTML=$(srcdir)/../xsl/html.xsl
 XSLHTMLMODS=$(srcdir)/../xsl/fileext.xsl $(srcdir)/../xsl/admon.xsl \
 	$(srcdir)/../xsl/keycombo.xsl $(srcdir)/../xsl/css.xsl
 XSLS=$(XSLFO) $(XSLFOMODS) $(XSLHTML) $(XSLHTMLMODS)
-FIGS=$(shell cd $(srcdir) && echo *.fig)
+FIGS=$(wildcard *.fig)
 PNGS=$(FIGS:.fig=.png)
 PDFS=$(FIGS:.fig=.pdf)
 SRC=$(XML)
diff --git a/docs/manuals.mak b/docs/manuals.mak
index 5e9b57d5f7..3362d1153e 100644
--- a/docs/manuals.mak
+++ b/docs/manuals.mak
@@ -9,9 +9,9 @@ if     HAVE_XSLTPROC
 
 if     HAVE_FIG2DEV_PNG
 html: $(DOC)
-else  !HAVE_FIG2DEV_PNG
+else  #!HAVE_FIG2DEV_PNG
 html:
-endif !HAVE_FIG2DEV_PNG
+endif #!HAVE_FIG2DEV_PNG
 
 if     HAVE_FIG2DEV_PDF
 if     HAVE_PDFXMLTEX
@@ -19,25 +19,25 @@ pdf: $(DOC).pdf
 
 if     HAVE_PDFTOPS
 ps: $(DOC).ps
-else  !HAVE_PDFTOPS
+else  #!HAVE_PDFTOPS
 ps:
-endif !HAVE_PDFTOPS
+endif #!HAVE_PDFTOPS
 
-else  !HAVE_PDFXMLTEX
+else  #!HAVE_PDFXMLTEX
 pdf:
 ps:
-endif !HAVE_PDFXMLTEX
+endif #!HAVE_PDFXMLTEX
 
-else  !HAVE_FIG2DEV_PDF
+else  #!HAVE_FIG2DEV_PDF
 pdf:
 ps:
-endif !HAVE_FIG2DEV_PDF
+endif #!HAVE_FIG2DEV_PDF
 
-else  !HAVE_XSLTPROC
+else  #!HAVE_XSLTPROC
 html:
 ps:
 pdf:
-endif !HAVE_XSLTPROC
+endif #!HAVE_XSLTPROC
 
 $(DOC).fo: $(XML) $(PDFS) $(XSLFO) $(XSLFOMODS)
 	cp magic-pdf magic
diff --git a/docs/xsl/Makefile.am b/docs/xsl/Makefile.am
index 655e33e5b3..e2e6733db3 100644
--- a/docs/xsl/Makefile.am
+++ b/docs/xsl/Makefile.am
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
-XSL=$(shell cd $(srcdir) && echo *.xsl)
+XSL=$(wildcard *.xsl)
 
 EXTRA_DIST = $(XSL)