diff --git a/doc/maint/ChangeLog b/doc/maint/ChangeLog
index 36735af2d..dc3bccbfe 100644
--- a/doc/maint/ChangeLog
+++ b/doc/maint/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,8 @@
+2002-07-10  Gary Houston  <ghouston@arglist.com>
+
+	* docstring.el: optional 2nd environment variable to locate
+	built files.
+
 2002-07-09  Gary Houston  <ghouston@arglist.com>
 
 	* docstring.el: defined caddr, used in several places but missing
diff --git a/doc/maint/README b/doc/maint/README
index c06599127..adfa13f82 100644
--- a/doc/maint/README
+++ b/doc/maint/README
@@ -13,11 +13,18 @@ in the libguile C source change.
     `docstring-process-module' and
     `docstring-ediff-this-line'.
 
-- guile.texi is a snapshot of the built file
-  guile-core/libguile/guile.texi, copied last time the reference
-  manual was determined to be in sync with the libguile source.
+- guile.texi is a snapshot of the built file libguile/guile.texi,
+  copied last time the reference manual was determined to be in sync
+  with the libguile source.
 
-For example:
+docstring.el requires the setting of an environment variable, e.g.,
+
+export GUILE_MAINTAINER_GUILE_CORE_DIR=$HOME/guile/guile-core
+
+If the build directory differs from the source directory, an additional
+variable is required:
+
+export GUILE_MAINTAINER_BUILD_CORE_DIR=$HOME/guile/guile-core-build
 
 If you've just fixed a docstring in, say, ../libguile/strop.c, do in emacs:
 
diff --git a/doc/maint/docstring.el b/doc/maint/docstring.el
index fda0b466b..263d763ff 100644
--- a/doc/maint/docstring.el
+++ b/doc/maint/docstring.el
@@ -63,10 +63,14 @@
 ;;    docstring-ediff-this-line
 ;;    docstring-show-source
 
-;;; Code:
 
 (defvar guile-core-dir (or (getenv "GUILE_MAINTAINER_GUILE_CORE_DIR")
-                           "~/Guile/cvs/guile-core"))
+			   (error "GUILE_MAINTAINER_GUILE_CORE_DIR not set"))
+  "*Full path of guile-core source directory.")
+
+(defvar guile-build-dir (or (getenv "GUILE_MAINTAINER_BUILD_CORE_DIR")
+			   guile-core-dir)
+  "*Full path of guile-core build directory.  Defaults to guile-core-dir.")
 
 (defvar docstring-manual-directory (expand-file-name "doc/ref" guile-core-dir)
   "*The directory containing the Texinfo source for the Guile reference manual.")
@@ -555,6 +559,10 @@ new snarfed docstring file.\n\n")
 						       guile-core-dir)
   "*The directory containing the C source for libguile.")
 
+(defvar docstring-libguile-build-directory (expand-file-name "libguile"
+							     guile-build-dir)
+  "*The directory containing the libguile build directory.")
+
 (defun docstring-display-location (file line)
   (let ((buffer (find-file-noselect
 		 (expand-file-name file docstring-libguile-directory))))
@@ -589,7 +597,7 @@ docstring so that it is easy for you to do this."
 				 (end-of-line)
 				 (point)))))
 	 (guile-texi-file
-	  (expand-file-name "guile.texi" docstring-libguile-directory))
+	  (expand-file-name "guile.texi" docstring-libguile-build-directory))
 	 (source-location
 	  (save-excursion
 	    (set-buffer (find-file-noselect guile-texi-file))