diff --git a/checks/manpages b/checks/manpages
index 94ebdb3..3ee56fd 100644
--- a/checks/manpages
+++ b/checks/manpages
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ use warnings;
 
 use Lintian::Check qw(check_spelling);
 use Lintian::Tags qw(tag);
-use Lintian::Util qw(clean_env fail);
+use Lintian::Util qw(clean_env fail open_gz);
 
 use Text::ParseWords ();
 use File::Basename;
@@ -161,11 +161,11 @@ foreach my $file ($info->sorted_index) {
         }
     } else { # not a symlink
         my $path = $info->unpacked($file);
-        open (MANFILE, '-|', "zcat \Q$path\E 2>/dev/null")
+        my $fd = open_gz ($path)
             or fail("cannot open $file: $!");
         my @manfile = ();
-        while (<MANFILE>) { push @manfile, $_; }
-        close MANFILE;
+        while (<$fd>) { push @manfile, $_; }
+        close $fd;
         # Is it a .so link?
         if ($index_info->size < 256) {
             my ($i, $first) = (0, '');
@@ -233,19 +233,28 @@ foreach my $file ($info->sorted_index) {
         # parent directory before running man so that .so directives are
         # processed properly.  (Yes, there are man pages that include other
         # pages with .so but aren't simple links; rbash, for instance.)
-        my $cmd;
+        my @cmd = ('man', '--warnings', '-E', 'UTF-8', '-l', '-Tutf8', '-Z');
+        my $dir;
         if ($path =~ m,^(.*)/(man\d/.*)$,) {
-            $cmd = "cd \Q$1\E && man --warnings -E UTF-8 -l \Q$2\E";
+            push @cmd, $2;
+            $dir = $1;
         } else {
-            $cmd = "man --warnings -E UTF-8 -l \Q$path\E";
+            push @cmd, $path;
         }
         my $pid = open MANERRS, '-|';
         if (not defined $pid) {
-            fail("cannot run man -E UTF-8 -l: $!");
+            fail("cannot run man -E UTF-8 -l -Tutf8 -Z: $!");
         } elsif ($pid == 0) {
             clean_env;
+            close STDOUT;
+            open STDERR, '>&', STDOUT
+                or fail "Redirecting STDERR to STDERR: $!";
+            if ($dir) {
+                chdir $dir or fail "chdir $dir: $!";
+            }
             $ENV{MANWIDTH} = 80;
-            exec "($cmd >/dev/null) 2>&1"
+            $ENV{MANROFFSEQ} = '';
+            exec { $cmd[0] } @cmd
                 or fail("cannot run man -E UTF-8 -l: $!");
         }
         while (<MANERRS>) {