--- a/make/Docs.gmk	Wed Oct 17 11:41:33 2018 +0200
+++ b/make/Docs.gmk	Tue Oct 23 13:45:24 2018 +0200
@@ -578,6 +578,21 @@
 	$(CHMOD) a+rx $(PANDOC_FILTER)
 	$(TOUCH) $@
 
+    # Pandoc's default behavior is to convert `code` to \f[C], which do not
+    # show up in normal man page rendering (but shows correctly when generating
+    # html). The norm for man pages is to show code as bold, so this should be
+    # transformed. However, even if we fix this in our pandoc filter, pandoc prior
+    # to version 2.0 cannot properly produced nested formatting in man pages
+    # (see https://github.com/jgm/pandoc/issues/3568).
+    # As a workaround, use post-processing with sed instead.
+    #
+    # As of pandoc 2.3, the termination of formatting is still broken
+    # (see https://github.com/jgm/pandoc/issues/4973). We need to replace
+    # \f[] with \f[R].
+    MAN_POST_PROCESS := $(SED) -e 's/\\f\[C\]/\\f\[CB\]/g' \
+        -e 's/\\f\[\]/\\f\[R\]/g'
+
+
     # We assume all man pages should reside in section 1
 
     # Generate man pages from markdown
@@ -593,6 +608,8 @@
               FORMAT := man, \
               EXTRA_DEPS := $(PANDOC_FILTER_SETUP), \
               FILTER := $(PANDOC_FILTER), \
+              POST_PROCESS := $(MAN_POST_PROCESS), \
+              REPLACEMENTS := @@VERSION_SHORT@@ => $(VERSION_SHORT), \
           )) \
         ) \
         $(eval MAN_PAGE_TARGETS += $($($m_$d_NAME))) \
@@ -610,6 +627,7 @@
               FILES := $(filter %.md, $(call CacheFind, $d)), \
               DEST := $(DOCS_OUTPUTDIR)/specs/man, \
               CSS := $(GLOBAL_SPECS_DEFAULT_CSS_FILE), \
+              REPLACEMENTS := @@VERSION_SHORT@@ => $(VERSION_SHORT), \
           )) \
         ) \
         $(eval MAN_PAGE_TARGETS += $($($m_$d_NAME))) \

--- a/make/common/ProcessMarkdown.gmk	Wed Oct 17 11:41:33 2018 +0200
+++ b/make/common/ProcessMarkdown.gmk	Tue Oct 23 13:45:24 2018 +0200
@@ -26,6 +26,8 @@
   $(error You must include MakeBase.gmk prior to including ProcessMarkdown.gmk)
 endif
 
+include TextFileProcessing.gmk
+
 # Helper function for SetupProcessMarkdown
 # $1: The $1 from SetupProcessMarkdown
 # $2: The name of the current source file, relative to $1_SRC
@@ -35,8 +37,14 @@
   $1_$2_INPUT_FILE := $$($1_SRC)/$2
   $1_$2_MARKER := $$(subst /,_,$1_$2)
 
-  ifneq ($$($1_PRE_PROCESS), )
+  ifneq ($$($1_REPLACEMENTS), )
     $1_$2_PANDOC_INPUT := $$(SUPPORT_OUTPUTDIR)/markdown/$$($1_$2_MARKER)_pre.tmp
+
+    $$(eval $$(call SetupTextFileProcessing, $1_$2_PREPROCESSED, \
+        SOURCE_FILES := $$($1_$2_INPUT_FILE), \
+        OUTPUT_FILE := $$($1_$2_PANDOC_INPUT), \
+        REPLACEMENTS := $$($1_REPLACEMENTS), \
+    ))
   else
     $1_$2_PANDOC_INPUT := $$($1_$2_INPUT_FILE)
   endif
@@ -62,17 +70,14 @@
     $1_$2_OPTIONS += --filter $$($1_FILTER)
   endif
 
-  $1_$2_VARDEPS := $$($1_OPTIONS) $$($1_$2_OPTIONS) $$($1_CSS)
+  $1_$2_VARDEPS := $$($1_OPTIONS) $$($1_$2_OPTIONS) $$($1_CSS) \
+      $$($1_REPLACEMENTS) $$($1_POST_PROCESS)
   $1_$2_VARDEPS_FILE := $$(call DependOnVariable, $1_$2_VARDEPS, \
       $$(SUPPORT_OUTPUTDIR)/markdown/$$($1_$2_MARKER).vardeps)
 
-$$($1_$2_OUTPUT_FILE): $$($1_$2_INPUT_FILE) $$($1_$2_VARDEPS_FILE) $$($1_EXTRA_DEPS)
+$$($1_$2_OUTPUT_FILE): $$($1_$2_PANDOC_INPUT) $$($1_$2_VARDEPS_FILE) $$($1_EXTRA_DEPS)
 	$$(call LogInfo, Converting $2 to $$($1_FORMAT))
 	$$(call MakeDir, $$($1_$2_TARGET_DIR) $$(SUPPORT_OUTPUTDIR)/markdown)
-        ifneq ($$($1_PRE_PROCESS), )
-	  $$(call ExecuteWithLog, $$(SUPPORT_OUTPUTDIR)/markdown/$$($1_$2_MARKER)_pre, \
-	      $$($1_PRE_PROCESS) < $$($1_$2_INPUT_FILE) > $$($1_$2_PANDOC_INPUT))
-        endif
 	$$(call ExecuteWithLog, $$(SUPPORT_OUTPUTDIR)/markdown/$$($1_$2_MARKER), \
 	    $$(PANDOC) $$($1_OPTIONS) -f markdown -t $$($1_FORMAT) --standalone \
 	    $$($1_$2_CSS_OPTION) $$($1_$2_OPTIONS) '$$($1_$2_PANDOC_INPUT)' \
@@ -109,6 +114,8 @@
 #   OPTIONS  : Additional options to pandoc
 #   EXTRA_DEPS : Additional dependencies to add to each pandoc call
 #   FILTER   : Optional pandoc filter command
+#   POST_PROCESS : Optional command-line to post-process generated markdown
+#   REPLACEMENTS : Text replacements to perform on input file before processing
 #
 SetupProcessMarkdown = $(NamedParamsMacroTemplate)
 define SetupProcessMarkdownBody
@@ -131,23 +138,6 @@
   endif
 
   ifeq ($$($1_FORMAT), man)
-    # Use preprocessing to inject the current version.
-   $1_PRE_PROCESS := $(SED) -e 's/@@VERSION_SHORT@@/$(VERSION_SHORT)/g'
-
-    # Pandoc's default behavior is to convert `code` to \f[C], which do not
-    # show up in normal man page rendering (but shows correctly when generating
-    # html). The norm for man pages is to show code as bold, so this should be
-    # transformed. However, even if we fix this in our pandoc filter, pandoc prior
-    # to version 2.0 cannot properly produced nested formatting in man pages
-    # (see https://github.com/jgm/pandoc/issues/3568).
-    # As a workaround, use post-processing with sed instead.
-    #
-    # As of pandoc 2.3, the termination of formatting is still broken
-    # (see https://github.com/jgm/pandoc/issues/4973). We need to replace
-    # \f[] with \f[R].
-    $1_POST_PROCESS := $(SED) -e 's/\\f\[C\]/\\f\[CB\]/g' \
-        -e 's/\\f\[\]/\\f\[R\]/g'
-
     # If no file extension is specified, default to '.1'.
     ifeq ($$($1_FILE_EXT), )
       $1_FILE_EXT := .1