diff --git a/configure.in b/configure.in
index 15c2e428e..835ee7946 100644
--- a/configure.in
+++ b/configure.in
@@ -530,7 +530,7 @@ AC_SUBST(CAIRO_LIBS)
 dnl ===========================================================================
 dnl Check for gtk-doc and docbook
 
-GTK_DOC_CHECK([1.3])
+GTK_DOC_CHECK([1.6])
 
 dnl ===========================================================================
 dnl Check for recent pkg-config which supports Requires.private
diff --git a/doc/public/Makefile.am b/doc/public/Makefile.am
index 0899e8d6e..21996d26d 100644
--- a/doc/public/Makefile.am
+++ b/doc/public/Makefile.am
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ DOC_MODULE=cairo
 DOC_MAIN_SGML_FILE=cairo-docs.xml
 
 # Extra options to supply to gtkdoc-scan
-SCAN_OPTIONS=--deprecated-guards="CAIRO_DISABLE_DEPRECATED"
+SCAN_OPTIONS=--deprecated-guards="CAIRO_DISABLE_DEPRECATED" --ignore-decorators="cairo_public|cairo_private"
 
 # The directory containing the source code. Relative to $(srcdir)
 DOC_SOURCE_DIR=../../src