diff --git a/Makefile.am b/Makefile.am
index 5c35769f..3bc0be0e 100644
--- a/Makefile.am
+++ b/Makefile.am
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-SUBDIRS = src themes images scripts
+SUBDIRS = src themes images scripts docs
 DISTCHECK_CONFIGURE_FLAGS = --disable-tests --without-system-root-install
 
 EXTRA_DIST = ChangeLog                                                         \
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index e6294b9b..207dc64a 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -243,4 +243,5 @@ AC_OUTPUT([Makefile
            themes/script/Makefile
            images/Makefile
            scripts/Makefile
+           docs/Makefile
 ])
diff --git a/docs/Makefile.am b/docs/Makefile.am
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..24492908
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/Makefile.am
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+dist_man_MANS = plymouth.8
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/docs/plymouth.8 b/docs/plymouth.8
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..dd7443ba
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/plymouth.8
@@ -0,0 +1,62 @@
+\"                                      Hey, EMACS: -*- nroff -*-
+.TH PLYMOUTH 8 "December 15, 2009"
+.SH NAME
+plymouth \- A graphical boot system and logger
+.SH SYNOPSIS
+.B plymouth-set-default-theme
+.RI [ options ] " \<theme\>"
+.SH DESCRIPTION
+\fBplymouth\fP is a a graphical boot system for Linux which takes advantage of the kernel-based
+mode setting (KMS) available for modern graphic cards to provide a seamless, flickerfree
+and attractive boot screen. It allows to choose between various, static or
+animated graphical themes to spruce up the startup and avoid the noise
+generated by the vast amount of kernel messages while the machine boots into X.
+On systems where kernel-based mode setting is not available, plymouth falls
+back to a text mode boot screen which provides a simple progress bar to provide
+feedback during boot.
+.PP
+To configure plymouth, that is to choose and install the preferred boot theme, the
+user has to invoke \fBplymouth-set-default-theme\fP. It changes the configuration
+to the new theme and also performs the necessary regeneration of the initial ramdisk
+(initrd) since plymouth is loaded from the boot loader from the initrd
+prior to the mounting of the root filesystem. The options available to this
+script are explained in the \fBOPTIONS\fP paragraph.
+.PP
+In order for the configured default plymouth theme to be loaded during boot,
+the option `splash' (or `rhgb' for backward compatibility with the RHGB boot
+splash) must be provided at the kernel command line.  With this command line
+option, plymouth will default to showing detailed boot output.
+.SH OPTIONS
+plymouth-set-default-theme follows the usual GNU command line syntax, with long
+options starting with two dashes (`-') and short variants of each of them.
+.TP
+.B \-h, \-\-help
+Show summary of options.
+.TP
+.B \-l, \-\-list
+List available themes.
+.TP
+.B \-r, \-\-reset
+Reset to default theme.
+.TP
+.B \-R, \-\-rebuild\-initrd
+Rebuild initrd (necessary after changing theme).
+.TP
+.B \<theme-name\>
+Name of new theme to use. If you want to see which themes are available, invoke the script with just \-\-list.
+.PP
+If plymouth-set-default-theme is invoked with no options or parameters, it shows the currently selected theme
+by default. This output is used by the helper scripts `plymouth-generate-initrd' and `plymouth-update-initrd'
+to set the proper theme in the initial ramdisk.
+.SH SEE ALSO
+.BR grub (8)
+.br
+.SH AUTHOR
+plymouth was originally prototyped and named by Kristian Høgsberg <krh@bitplanet.net>,
+originally written by Ray Strode <halfline@gmail.com> and has had significant contributions
+from Charlie Brej <cbrej@cs.man.ac.uk>.  It has also had contributions from
+Peter Jones <pjones@redhat.com>, Adam Jackson <ajax@nwnk.net>,
+Frederic Crozat <fcrozat@mandriva.com> and others.
+It can be downloaded here: <http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/Plymouth>.
+.PP
+This manual page was written by Adrian Glaubitz <glaubitz@physik.fu-berlin.de>.
diff --git a/scripts/plymouth-set-default-theme.in b/scripts/plymouth-set-default-theme.in
index e7310516..e5e2ef0e 100755
--- a/scripts/plymouth-set-default-theme.in
+++ b/scripts/plymouth-set-default-theme.in
@@ -23,11 +23,11 @@ function show_help() {
 Plymouth theme chooser
 $(usage)
 
-  --help             Show this help message
-  --list             Show available themes
-  --reset            Reset to default theme
-  --rebuild-initrd   Rebuild initrd (necessary after changing theme)
-  <theme-name>       Name of new theme to use (see --list for available themes)
+  -h, --help             Show this help message
+  -l, --list             Show available themes
+  -r. --reset            Reset to default theme
+  -R, --rebuild-initrd   Rebuild initrd (necessary after changing theme)
+  <theme-name>           Name of new theme to use (see --list for available themes)
 
 EOF
 }
@@ -58,7 +58,7 @@ THEME_NAME=""
 while [ $# -gt 0 ]; do
         case "$1" in
 
-        --list)
+        -l|--list)
                 if [ -n "$THEME_NAME" ]; then
                         echo "You can only specify --list or a theme name, not both" > /dev/stderr
                         echo $(usage) > /dev/stderr
@@ -74,11 +74,11 @@ while [ $# -gt 0 ]; do
                 DO_LIST=1
         ;;
 
-        --rebuild-initrd)
+        -R|--rebuild-initrd)
                 DO_INITRD_REBUILD=1
         ;;
 
-        --reset|default)
+        -r|--reset|default)
                 if [ -n "$THEME_NAME" ]; then
                         echo "You can only specify --reset or a theme name, not both" > /dev/stderr
                         echo $(usage) > /dev/stderr
@@ -94,7 +94,7 @@ while [ $# -gt 0 ]; do
                 DO_RESET=1
         ;;
 
-        --help)
+        -h|--help)
                 DO_HELP=1
         ;;