diff --git a/doc/tools/help2doc b/doc/tools/help2doc
index 2b48da28f..864f66222 100755
--- a/doc/tools/help2doc
+++ b/doc/tools/help2doc
@@ -1,160 +1,83 @@
-#!/bin/sh
-#
-#
-# Script used to generate doc/book/config/cmdoptions.xml
-# and hopefully other in the future.
+#! /usr/bin/perl
+use strict;
+use warnings;
 
-# Updated by option handlind via --elinks=path/to/elinks option
-elinks="$1"
-option="$2"
+my ($elinks, $option) = @ARGV;
 
-# Option handling {{{1
-
-command=
-
-case "$option" in
-	*command*)
-	filter="sed 0,/^Options:/d"
-	option=--long-help
-	;;
-	*config*)
-	filter="sed 0,/^Configuration/d"
-	option=--config-help
-	;;
-esac
-
-print_description_line()
-{
-	line="$1"
-	number="$2"
-
-	case "$line" in
-	-eval*)
-		echo
-		;;
-	*)
-		line="$(echo $line | sed 's,\(-touch-files\|-no-connect\|-session-ring\|-dump\|-default-mime-type\|text/html\|~/\.elinks\),\`\1\`,g')"
-		line=$(echo $line | sed "s,'\([^']*\)',\\\'\1\\\',")
-		line=$(echo $line | sed "s,ELinks,'ELinks',g")
-		line=$(echo $line | sed "s,HOME,'HOME',g")
-		line="$(echo $line | sed 's/^\([a-zA-Z]*([^)]*)\).*:/- \`\1\`:/')"
-
-		if test -n "$number";
-		then
-			echo -n "	- $number:"
-		fi
-	esac
-	echo "	$line"
+if ($option =~ /command/) {
+    open my $pipe, "-|", $elinks, "--long-help" or die;
+    my $version = <$pipe>;
+    chomp $version;
+    $version =~ s/^ELinks ([-.\w]+).*$/$1/ or die "unusual version: $version";
+    my $blank = 1;
+    while (<$pipe>) {
+	if (/^ {4}(-.*?) *$/) {
+	    # '    -anonymous [0|1] (default: 0)'
+	    # '    -config-dir <str> (default: "")'
+	    $_ = $1;
+	    s/ {2,}/ /g;
+	    print "${_}::\n";
+	} elsif (/^ {12}\t(-eval .*)$/) {
+	    print "\n\t$1\n";
+	} elsif (/^ {12}\t(\w+\(.*\)) +: (.*)$/) {
+	    # '            	openURL(URL, new-tab)     : open URL in new tab'
+	    print "\t- `$1`: $2\n";
+	} elsif (/^ {12}\t(\d+) (means .+)$/) {
+	    # '            	0 means only show serious errors'
+	    print "\t- $1:\t$2\n";
+	} elsif (s/^ {12}//) {
+	    s/'([^']+)'/\\'$1\\'/g;
+	    s((~/\.elinks|-dump|-default-mime-type|text/html|-touch-files|-no-connect|-session-ring))(`$1`)g;
+	    s/(ELinks|HOME)/'$1'/g;
+	    print "\t$_";
+	} else {
+	    print "\n" unless $blank;
+	    $blank = 2;
+	}
+	$blank = ($blank == 2);
+    }
+    print "Generated using output from ELinks version $version.\n";
+} elsif ($option =~ /config/) {
+    open my $pipe, "-|", $elinks, "--config-help" or die;
+    my $version = <$pipe>;
+    chomp $version;
+    $version =~ s/^ELinks ([-.\w]+).*$/$1/ or die "unusual version: $version";
+    my $blank = 1;
+    my $continued = 0;
+    while (<$pipe>) {
+	if (/^ {2}[^ ].*: \(([-.\w]+)\)$/) {
+	    # '  Active link: (document.browse.links.active_link)'
+	    print "$1::\n";
+	} elsif (/^ {4}([^ ].*?)$/) {
+	    # '    bookmarks.file_format <num> (default: 0)'
+	    print "$1::\n";
+	} elsif (/^ {12,}$/) {
+	    print "+\n";
+	    $continued = 1;
+	} elsif (s/^ {12,}//) {
+	    # escape things that might look like AsciiDoc markup
+	    s/'(.*?)'/\\'$1\\'/g;
+	    s/\{(.*?)\}/\\{$1\\}/g;
+	    # add the actual AsciiDoc markup
+	    s/(ELinks|WWW_HOME)/'$1'/g;
+	    s((~/\.elinks))(`$1`)g;
+	    if (/^(-?\d[-+\d]*?) +(.*)$/) {
+		# '            1+ is use cookie's expiration date, but limit age to the given'
+		print "\t- $1:\t$2\n";
+	    } elsif ($continued) {
+		print "$_";
+	    } else {
+		print "\t$_";
+	    }
+	} else {
+	    print "\n" unless $blank;
+	    $blank = 2;
+	    $continued = 0;
+	}
+	$blank = ($blank == 2);
+    }
+    print "Generated using output from ELinks version $version.\n";
+} else {
+    die "usage: $0 ELINKS-EXECUTABLE option-command.txt\n"
+      . "   or: $0 ELINKS-EXECUTABLE option-config.txt\n";
 }
-
-print_option_tree()
-{
-	title="$1"
-	path="$2"
-	echo "$path::"
-}
-
-print_option_type()
-{
-	path="$1"
-	typeid="$2"
-	default="$3"
-	typestring="$path"
-	if test -n "$typeid" && test "$typeid" != "$path";
-	then
-		if test "$typeid" = "(alias";
-		then
-			typestring="$typestring ($default)"
-			default=
-		else
-			typestring="$typestring $typeid"
-		fi
-	fi
-	if test -n "$default" && test "$default" != "$path";
-	then
-		typestring="$typestring ($default)"
-	fi
-	if test "$default" = "-?, -h, -help";
-	then
-		typestring="$default"
-	fi
-
-	echo "$typestring::"
-}
-
-
-# The main loop {{{1
-
-# State variables
-parse_description=
-parse_int_option=
-use_log=
-
-"$elinks" $option | $filter | while read line
-do
-	if test -n "$parse_description"
-	then
-		# If the line is empty it is our clue that
-		# the desciption is over.
-		if test -z "$line"
-		then
-			echo
-			parse_description=
-			parse_int_option=
-			continue
-		fi
-
-		line=`echo "$line" | sed -e "s/[ ]*(DISABLED)//"`
-		line=`echo "$line" | sed 's/\([{}]\)/\\\\\1/g'`
-		number=
-		if test -n "$parse_int_option";
-		then
-			case "$line" in
-				-[0-9]*)
-					number="`echo $line | sed -e 's/\(-[0-9-]*\).*/\1/'`"
-					line=`echo "$line" | sed -e "s/$number[ ]*//"`
-				;;
-
-				[0-9]*)
-					number="`echo $line | sed -e 's/\([0-9-]*\).*/\1/'`"
-					line=`echo "$line" | sed -e "s/$number[ ]*//"`
-				;;
-			esac
-		fi
-
-		print_description_line "$line" "$number"
-		continue
-	fi
-
-	case "$line" in
-		Features:*)
-		;;
-		[A-Z]*:" ("*[a-z]*)
-			parse_description=1
-			title="`echo $line | sed -e 's/\([A-Z]*\):.*/\1/'`"
-			path="`echo $line | sed -e 's/.*: (\([a-z_].*\))/\1/'`"
-			print_option_tree "$title" "$path"
-		;;
-
-		[a-z_-]*[.a-z_-]*)
-			parse_description=1
-			path="`echo $line | sed -e 's/\([a-z-][^ ]*\).*/\1/'`"
-			typeid="`echo $line | sed -e 's/[ ]*[a-z-][^ ]* \([^ ]*\).*/\1/'`"
-			default="`echo \"$line\" | sed -e 's/[^(]*(\(.*\))/\1/'`"
-			print_option_type "$path" "$typeid" "$default"
-			if test "$typeid" = "<num>";
-			then
-				parse_int_option=1
-			fi
-		;;
-
-		*)
-		;;
-	esac
-done
-
-version="`$elinks -version | head -n 1 | sed -e 's/ELinks \([0-9][^ ]*\).*/\1/'`"
-echo "Generated using output from ELinks version $version."
-
-
-# vim: tabstop=4 shiftwidth=4