diff --git a/configure b/configure
index 8ee15810c8..ecc8e90e8b 100755
--- a/configure
+++ b/configure
@@ -4874,14 +4874,14 @@ if test "$docs" != "no" ; then
   else
     sphinx_ok=no
   fi
-  if has makeinfo && has pod2man && test "$sphinx_ok" = "yes"; then
+  if test "$sphinx_ok" = "yes"; then
     docs=yes
   else
     if test "$docs" = "yes" ; then
       if has $sphinx_build && test "$sphinx_ok" != "yes"; then
         echo "Warning: $sphinx_build exists but it is either too old or uses too old a Python version" >&2
       fi
-      feature_not_found "docs" "Install texinfo, Perl/perl-podlators and a Python 3 version of python-sphinx"
+      feature_not_found "docs" "Install a Python 3 version of python-sphinx"
     fi
     docs=no
   fi
@@ -6301,13 +6301,6 @@ if test "$solaris" = "no" && test "$tsan" = "no"; then
     fi
 fi
 
-# test if pod2man has --utf8 option
-if pod2man --help | grep -q utf8; then
-    POD2MAN="pod2man --utf8"
-else
-    POD2MAN="pod2man"
-fi
-
 # Use ASLR, no-SEH and DEP if available
 if test "$mingw32" = "yes" ; then
     for flag in --dynamicbase --no-seh --nxcompat; do
@@ -7456,7 +7449,6 @@ echo "HOST_DSOSUF=$HOST_DSOSUF" >> $config_host_mak
 echo "LIBS_QGA=$libs_qga" >> $config_host_mak
 echo "TASN1_LIBS=$tasn1_libs" >> $config_host_mak
 echo "TASN1_CFLAGS=$tasn1_cflags" >> $config_host_mak
-echo "POD2MAN=$POD2MAN" >> $config_host_mak
 if test "$gcov" = "yes" ; then
   echo "CONFIG_GCOV=y" >> $config_host_mak
 fi