diff --git a/Makefile.in b/Makefile.in
index 91f87ed24de..2dc4ce52d7c 100644
--- a/Makefile.in
+++ b/Makefile.in
@@ -115,8 +115,7 @@ HAVE_GSETTINGS = @HAVE_GSETTINGS@
 
 ANDROID = @ANDROID@
 
-# TODO : make a configure option to keep only desired languages
-DOCLANGS?=default fr
+DOCLANGS?=@DOCLANGS@
 
 # ==================== Where To Install Things ====================
 
diff --git a/m4/texinfo.m4 b/m4/texinfo.m4
index 66e8abd8602..d5d9b3fb029 100644
--- a/m4/texinfo.m4
+++ b/m4/texinfo.m4
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ dnl
 AC_DEFUN([gl_TEXINFO],[dnl
 AC_REQUIRE([gl_SET_MAKEINFO])
 AC_REQUIRE([gl_SET_DOCMISC_W32])
+AC_REQUIRE([gl_SET_DOCLANGS])
 ])
 dnl
 dnl gl_FIND_MAKEINFO
@@ -56,3 +57,50 @@ fi
 ]AC_SUBST([DOCMISC_W32])
 ])
 dnl
+dnl gl_dollar is need for $1, $2 etc. in AWK snippets not to be intepreted by
+dnl M4 as macros arguments.
+m4_define([gl_dollar],[m4_quote([$])])dnl
+m4_define([gl_DOCLANGS_FULL],[[default fr]])dnl
+dnl This is minimal texinfo.tex version with "-" removed from the ISO date
+dnl part from which there is no issue with index key sorting when document
+dnl language/encoding corresponding locale is not installer nor active.
+m4_define([gl_TEXINFO_TEX_MINVER],[[20260401.0]])dnl
+m4_define([gl_TEXINDEX_MINVER],[[7.1]])dnl
+m4_define([gl_TEXINFO_INDEXING_IS_LOCALE_DEPENDANT],[dnl
+[DOCLANGS='default']
+AC_MSG_WARN([texinfo.tex/texindex versions suggest that indexing is locale dependant, manual compilation is restricted to lang 'default', override this by setting DOCLANGS in the environment])
+])dnl
+m4_define([gl_GET_TEXINFO_TEX_VER],[dnl
+[texinfo_tex_ver=`tex -jobname=conftest '\nonstopmode\input texinfo.tex @typeout{TEXINFO_TEX_VER=@texinfoversion}@bye' | awk 'BEGIN{R=1;FS="="};]gl_dollar[1=="TEXINFO_TEX_VER" { gsub("-","");print ]gl_dollar[2; R=0; exit}; END{ exit R}'`
+if test $? -ne 0; then
+   texinfo_tex_ver_ver=0.0]
+   AC_MSG_WARN([Can't find texinfo.tex version, check tex and texinfo.tex are installed.])
+[fi
+]])dnl
+m4_define([gl_GET_TEXINDEX_VER],[dnl
+[texindex_ver=`texindex --version | awk 'BEGIN { R=1};NR==1 && ]gl_dollar[1 == "texindex"{ print $NF; R=0; exit}; {exit}; END { exit R}'`
+if test $? -ne 0; then
+   texindex_ver=0.0]
+   AC_MSG_WARN([Can't find texindex version, check texindex is installed.])
+[fi
+]
+])dnl
+AC_DEFUN([gl_TEXINFO_VERSION_COMPARE],[dnl
+AC_REQUIRE([AS_VERSION_COMPARE])
+AS_VERSION_COMPARE([$1],[$2],[gl_TEXINFO_INDEXING_IS_LOCALE_DEPENDANT()],[$3],[$3])dnl
+])dnl
+dnl gl_SET_DOCLANGS
+AC_DEFUN([gl_SET_DOCLANGS],[dnl
+AC_REQUIRE([gl_TEXINFO_VERSION_COMPARE])
+AC_ARG_VAR([DOCLANGS],[languages for which manuals are compiled, languages supported: ]gl_DOCLANGS_FULL()[, list is space separated])
+gl_GET_TEXINFO_TEX_VER()
+gl_GET_TEXINDEX_VER()
+gl_TEXINFO_VERSION_COMPARE([$texinfo_tex_ver],[gl_TEXINFO_TEX_MINVER()],[dnl
+  gl_TEXINFO_VERSION_COMPARE([$texindex_ver],[gl_TEXINDEX_MINVER()],[dnl
+  [DOCLANGS=']gl_DOCLANGS_FULL()[']
+  AC_MSG_NOTICE([texinfo.tex/texindex versions suggest that indexing is not locale dependant, setting DOCLANGS to ']gl_DOCLANGS_FULL()['])
+  ])
+])
+AC_SUBST([DOCLANGS])
+])
+dnl