diff --git a/Makefile.in b/Makefile.in
index 42272b19cb9..3949067bc7b 100644
--- a/Makefile.in
+++ b/Makefile.in
@@ -69,7 +69,7 @@ R: Makefile svnonly
 	  $(ECHO) "you should 'make docs' now ..."
 
 docs: R FORCE
-	-@(cd doc && $(MAKE) $@)
+	@(cd doc && $(MAKE) $@)
 	-@(cd src/library && $(MAKE) $@)
 FORCE:
 
diff --git a/doc/Makefile.in b/doc/Makefile.in
index 786bc1a4afc..4cf06bb7419 100644
--- a/doc/Makefile.in
+++ b/doc/Makefile.in
@@ -57,14 +57,14 @@ Rscript.1:
 NEWS.rds: $(srcdir)/NEWS.Rd
 	@$(ECHO) "options(warn=1);saveRDS(tools:::prepare_Rd(tools::parse_Rd(\"$(srcdir)/NEWS.Rd\", \
 	  macros = \"../share/Rd/macros/system.Rd\"), stages = 'install', warningCalls = FALSE), \
-	  'NEWS.rds')" | $(R_EXE)
+	  'NEWS.rds')" | $(R_EXE) || rm $^
 
 NEWS: NEWS.rds
 	@$(ECHO) "creating doc/NEWS"
-	@$(ECHO) 'options(warn=1);tools:::Rd2txt_NEWS_in_Rd("NEWS.rds", "NEWS")' |  $(R_EXE)
+	@$(ECHO) 'options(warn=1);tools:::Rd2txt_NEWS_in_Rd("NEWS.rds", "NEWS")' |  $(R_EXE) || rm $^
 
 html/NEWS.html: NEWS.rds
-	@$(ECHO) 'options(warn=1);tools:::Rd2HTML_NEWS_in_Rd("NEWS.rds", "html/NEWS.html")' |  $(R_EXE)
+	@$(ECHO) 'options(warn=1);tools:::Rd2HTML_NEWS_in_Rd("NEWS.rds", "html/NEWS.html")' |  $(R_EXE) || rm $^
 
 PDFLATEX = @PDFLATEX@
 ## needs pdflatex (and more)
@@ -74,7 +74,7 @@ NEWS.pdf: NEWS.rds
 	else \
 	 $(ECHO) "creating doc/NEWS.pdf"; \
 	 $(ECHO) 'options(warn=1);tools:::Rd2pdf_NEWS_in_Rd("NEWS.rds", "NEWS.pdf")' | \
-	 TEXINPUTS="$(top_srcdir)/share/texmf/tex/latex:$$TEXINPUTS" $(R_EXE); \
+	 TEXINPUTS="$(top_srcdir)/share/texmf/tex/latex:$$TEXINPUTS" $(R_EXE) || rm $^; \
 	fi
 
 docs3: NEWS.3.rds NEWS.3.html NEWS.3.pdf
@@ -82,15 +82,15 @@ docs3: NEWS.3.rds NEWS.3.html NEWS.3.pdf
 NEWS.3.rds: $(srcdir)/NEWS.3.Rd
 	@$(ECHO) "options(warn=1);saveRDS(tools:::prepare_Rd(tools::parse_Rd(\"$(srcdir)/NEWS.3.Rd\", \
 	  macros = \"../share/Rd/macros/system.Rd\"), stages = 'install', warningCalls = FALSE), \
-	  'NEWS.3.rds')" | $(R_EXE)
+	  'NEWS.3.rds')" | $(R_EXE) || rm $^
 
 NEWS.3: NEWS.3.rds
 	@$(ECHO) "creating NEWS.3"
-	@$(ECHO) 'options(warn=1);tools:::Rd2txt_NEWS_in_Rd("NEWS.3.rds", "NEWS.3")' |  $(R_EXE)
+	@$(ECHO) 'options(warn=1);tools:::Rd2txt_NEWS_in_Rd("NEWS.3.rds", "NEWS.3")' |  $(R_EXE) || rm $^
 
 NEWS.3.html: NEWS.3.rds
 	@$(ECHO) "creating NEWS.3.html"
-	@$(ECHO) 'options(warn=1);tools:::Rd2HTML_NEWS_in_Rd("NEWS.3.rds", "NEWS.3.html")' |  $(R_EXE)
+	@$(ECHO) 'options(warn=1);tools:::Rd2HTML_NEWS_in_Rd("NEWS.3.rds", "NEWS.3.html")' |  $(R_EXE) || rm $^
 
 NEWS.3.pdf: NEWS.3.rds
 	@if test -z "$(PDFLATEX)"; then \
@@ -98,7 +98,7 @@ NEWS.3.pdf: NEWS.3.rds
 	else \
 	 $(ECHO) "creating NEWS.3.pdf"; \
 	 $(ECHO) 'options(warn=1);tools:::Rd2pdf_NEWS_in_Rd("NEWS.3.rds", "NEWS.3.pdf")' | \
-	 TEXINPUTS="$(top_srcdir)/share/texmf/tex/latex:$$TEXINPUTS" $(R_EXE); \
+	 TEXINPUTS="$(top_srcdir)/share/texmf/tex/latex:$$TEXINPUTS" $(R_EXE) || rm $^; \
 	fi
 
 ## NEWS.2.html ships as doc/html/NEWS.2.html in the sources.
@@ -107,16 +107,16 @@ docs2: NEWS.2.rds NEWS.2.html NEWS.2.pdf
 NEWS.2.rds: $(srcdir)/NEWS.2.Rd
 	@$(ECHO) "options(warn=1);saveRDS(tools:::prepare_Rd(tools::parse_Rd(\"$(srcdir)/NEWS.2.Rd\", \
 	  macros = \"../share/Rd/macros/system.Rd\"), stages = 'install', warningCalls = FALSE), \
-	  'NEWS.2.rds')" | $(R_EXE)
+	  'NEWS.2.rds')" | $(R_EXE) || rm $^
 
 ## NB: this is only the top part of NEWS.2 in the sources.
 NEWS.2: NEWS.2.rds
 	@$(ECHO) "creating NEWS.2"
-	@$(ECHO) 'options(warn=1);tools:::Rd2txt_NEWS_in_Rd("NEWS.2.rds", "NEWS.2")' |  $(R_EXE)
+	@$(ECHO) 'options(warn=1);tools:::Rd2txt_NEWS_in_Rd("NEWS.2.rds", "NEWS.2")' |  $(R_EXE) || rm $^
 
 NEWS.2.html: NEWS.2.rds
 	@$(ECHO) "creating NEWS.2.html"
-	@$(ECHO) 'options(warn=1);tools:::Rd2HTML_NEWS_in_Rd("NEWS.2.rds", "NEWS.2.html")' |  $(R_EXE)
+	@$(ECHO) 'options(warn=1);tools:::Rd2HTML_NEWS_in_Rd("NEWS.2.rds", "NEWS.2.html")' |  $(R_EXE) || rm $^
 
 NEWS.2.pdf: NEWS.2.rds
 	@if test -z "$(PDFLATEX)"; then \
@@ -124,7 +124,7 @@ NEWS.2.pdf: NEWS.2.rds
 	else \
 	 $(ECHO) "creating NEWS.2.pdf"; \
 	 $(ECHO) 'options(warn=1);tools:::Rd2pdf_NEWS_in_Rd("NEWS.2.rds", "NEWS.2.pdf")' | \
-	 TEXINPUTS="$(top_srcdir)/share/texmf/tex/latex:$$TEXINPUTS" $(R_EXE); \
+	 TEXINPUTS="$(top_srcdir)/share/texmf/tex/latex:$$TEXINPUTS" $(R_EXE) || rm $^; \
 	fi
 
 
diff --git a/doc/Makefile.win b/doc/Makefile.win
index bdb68df8eda..545177a08c4 100644
--- a/doc/Makefile.win
+++ b/doc/Makefile.win
@@ -14,28 +14,28 @@ all: NEWS.rds html/NEWS.html NEWS NEWS.pdf NEWS.2.rds NEWS.3.rds \
 NEWS.rds: NEWS.Rd
 	@$(ECHO) "options(warn=1);saveRDS(tools:::prepare_Rd(tools::parse_Rd(\"$<\", \
 	  macros = \"../share/Rd/macros/system.Rd\"), stages = \"install\", \
-	  warningCalls = FALSE), \"$@\")" | $(R_EXE)
+	  warningCalls = FALSE), \"$@\")" | $(R_EXE) || rm $^
 
 NEWS.2.rds: NEWS.2.Rd
 	@$(ECHO) "options(warn=1);saveRDS(tools:::prepare_Rd(tools::parse_Rd(\"$<\", \
 	  macros = \"../share/Rd/macros/system.Rd\"), stages = \"install\", \
-	  warningCalls = FALSE), \"$@\")" | $(R_EXE)
+	  warningCalls = FALSE), \"$@\")" | $(R_EXE) || rm $^
 
 NEWS.3.rds: NEWS.3.Rd
 	@$(ECHO) "options(warn=1);saveRDS(tools:::prepare_Rd(tools::parse_Rd(\"$<\", \
 	  macros = \"../share/Rd/macros/system.Rd\"), stages = \"install\", \
-	  warningCalls = FALSE), \"$@\")" | $(R_EXE)
+	  warningCalls = FALSE), \"$@\")" | $(R_EXE) || rm $^
 
 CHANGES.rds: ../src/gnuwin32/CHANGES.Rd
 	@$(ECHO) "options(warn=1);saveRDS(tools:::prepare_Rd(tools::parse_Rd(\"$<\", \
 	  macros = \"../share/Rd/macros/system.Rd\"), stages = \"install\", \
-	  warningCalls = FALSE), \"$@\")" | $(R_EXE)
+	  warningCalls = FALSE), \"$@\")" | $(R_EXE) || rm $^
 
 ## Force ASCII output, for portability on Windows
 NEWS: NEWS.rds
 	@$(ECHO) "creating doc/NEWS"
 	@$(ECHO) "options(warn=1);tools:::Rd2txt_NEWS_in_Rd(\"$<\", \"$@\", \
-	  outputEncoding = \"ASCII//TRANSLIT\")" | $(R_EXE)
+	  outputEncoding = \"ASCII//TRANSLIT\")" | $(R_EXE) || rm $^
 
 ## Should be allowed to fail if pdflatex is not available
 NEWS.pdf: NEWS.rds
@@ -45,15 +45,15 @@ NEWS.pdf: NEWS.rds
 
 CHANGES: CHANGES.rds
 	@$(ECHO) "options(warn=1);tools:::Rd2txt_NEWS_in_Rd(\"$<\", \"$@\", \
-	  outputEncoding = \"ASCII//TRANSLIT\")" | $(R_EXE)
+	  outputEncoding = \"ASCII//TRANSLIT\")" | $(R_EXE) || rm $^
 
 html/NEWS.html: NEWS.rds
 	@$(ECHO) "options(warn=1);tools:::Rd2HTML_NEWS_in_Rd(\"$<\", \"$@\")" | \
-	  $(R_EXE)
+	  $(R_EXE) || rm $^
 
 html/CHANGES.html: CHANGES.rds
 	@$(ECHO) "options(warn=1);tools:::Rd2HTML_NEWS_in_Rd(\"$<\", \"$@\")" | \
-	  $(R_EXE)
+	  $(R_EXE) || rm $^
 
 clean:
 	@rm -f NEWS.rds html/NEWS.html NEWS NEWS.pdf \
diff --git a/doc/NEWS.Rd b/doc/NEWS.Rd
index e36f305cf2c..ff99a074b81 100644
--- a/doc/NEWS.Rd
+++ b/doc/NEWS.Rd
@@ -97,6 +97,9 @@
 
       \item Building the HTML (and Info) versions of the R manuals now
       requires \command{texi2any} from \I{Texinfo} 6.1 or later.
+
+      \item Failures in building the manuals under \file{doc} now abort
+      the installation, removing sny file which caused the failure.
     }
   }
 
diff --git a/doc/manual/Makefile.in b/doc/manual/Makefile.in
index ac9504a27e6..dba42f38406 100644
--- a/doc/manual/Makefile.in
+++ b/doc/manual/Makefile.in
@@ -191,7 +191,7 @@ $(texinputs_BASE): FORCE
 	  "tools:::.Rdnewer(\"$(top_srcdir)/src/library/$${pkg}\", \"$@\")"; then \
 	  $(ECHO) "collecting LaTeX docs for package '$${pkg}' ..."; \
 	  $(ECHO) "tools:::.pkg2tex(\"$(top_builddir)/library/$${pkg}\")" \
-	    | LC_ALL=C $(R_EXE) ; \
+	    | LC_ALL=C $(R_EXE) || rm $^ ; \
 	fi)
 FORCE:
 
@@ -201,7 +201,7 @@ $(texinputs_RECOMMENDED): FORCE
 	    -print 2> /dev/null | grep $@ > /dev/null; then :; else \
 	  $(ECHO) "collecting LaTeX docs for package '$${pkg}' ..."; \
 	  $(ECHO) "tools:::.pkg2tex(\"$(top_builddir)/library/$${pkg}\")" \
-	    | LC_ALL=C $(R_EXE) ; \
+	    | LC_ALL=C $(R_EXE) || rm $^ ; \
 	fi)
 
 version.texi: Makefile $(top_srcdir)/VERSION $(SVN_REV)
diff --git a/doc/manual/Makefile.win b/doc/manual/Makefile.win
index da1caef6ed9..bccf08a0532 100644
--- a/doc/manual/Makefile.win
+++ b/doc/manual/Makefile.win
@@ -161,7 +161,7 @@ compact-pdf:
 %-pkg.tex: FORCE
 	@$(ECHO) "collecting LaTeX docs for package \`$*' ..."
 	@$(ECHO) "tools:::.pkg2tex(\"$(top_srcdir)/library/$*\")" \
-	    | LC_ALL=C $(R_EXE) --vanilla --no-echo
+	    | LC_ALL=C $(R_EXE) --vanilla --no-echo  || rm $^
 FORCE:
 
 version.texi: Makefile.win $(top_srcdir)/VERSION $(SVN_REV)