diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index 1dfa62b84..bff0b5146 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,8 @@
+2025-05-04  dana@dana.is  <dana@dana.is>
+
+	* Max Coplan: 53535: Util/helpfiles: fix builds with
+	interactive manpagers
+
 2025-05-01  Peter Stephenson  <p.stephenson@samsung.com>
 
 	* 53529: Test/A04redirect.ztst: Avoid using system area for
diff --git a/Util/helpfiles b/Util/helpfiles
index 58aa04bba..71db7d2a4 100755
--- a/Util/helpfiles
+++ b/Util/helpfiles
@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@ $coltmp = $destdir . '/' . $coltmpbase;
 $args = "./$manfile >$mantmp";
 unlink($mantmp);
 &Info('attempting man ', $args);
-if(system('man ' . $args) || !(-s $mantmp)) {
+if(system('MANPAGER=cat man ' . $args) || !(-s $mantmp)) {
     unlink($mantmp);
     &Info('attempting nroff -man ', $args);
     if(system('nroff -man ' . $args) || !(-s $mantmp)) {