diff --git a/Doc/tools/mkdvi.sh b/Doc/tools/mkdvi.sh
index 3330acc3234..673a969db3f 100755
--- a/Doc/tools/mkdvi.sh
+++ b/Doc/tools/mkdvi.sh
@@ -1,6 +1,17 @@
 #! /bin/sh
 #
-#  Build one of the simple documents.
+#  Build one of the simple documents.  This can be used to create the DVI,
+#  PDF, or LaTeX "aux" files.  It can accept one of three optional parameters:
+#
+#  --aux	Create only the LaTeX .aux file
+#  --dvi	Create the DeVice Independent output
+#  --pdf	Create Adobe PDF output
+#
+#  If no parameter is given, DVI output is produced.
+#
+#  One positional parameter is required:  the "base" of the document to
+#  format.  For the standard Python documentation, this will be api, ext,
+#  lib, mac, ref, or tut.
 
 WORKDIR=`pwd`
 cd `dirname $0`/..
@@ -8,10 +19,17 @@ srcdir=`pwd`
 cd $WORKDIR
 
 latex=latex
+aux=''
+pdf=''
 if [ "$1" = "--pdf" ] ; then
     pdf=true
     latex=pdflatex
     shift 1
+elif [ "$1" = "--aux" ] ; then
+    aux=true
+    shift 1
+elif [ "$1" = "--dvi" ] ; then
+    shift 1
 fi
 
 part=$1; shift 1
@@ -23,19 +41,24 @@ echo $srcdir'/tools/newind.py >'$part'.ind'
 $srcdir/tools/newind.py >$part.ind || exit $?
 echo "$latex $part"
 $latex $part || exit $?
-if [ -f $part.idx ] ; then
-    # using the index
-    echo $srcdir'/tools/fix_hack '$part'.idx'
-    $srcdir/tools/fix_hack $part.idx || exit $?
-    echo 'makeindex -s '$srcdir'/texinputs/python.ist '$part'.idx'
-    makeindex -s $srcdir/texinputs/python.ist $part.idx || exit $?
+if [ "$aux" ] ; then
+    # make sure the .dvi isn't interpreted as useful:
+    rm $part.dvi
 else
-    # skipping the index; clean up the unused file
-    rm -f $part.ind
+    if [ -f $part.idx ] ; then
+	# using the index
+	echo $srcdir'/tools/fix_hack '$part'.idx'
+	$srcdir/tools/fix_hack $part.idx || exit $?
+	echo 'makeindex -s '$srcdir'/texinputs/python.ist '$part'.idx'
+	makeindex -s $srcdir/texinputs/python.ist $part.idx || exit $?
+    else
+	# skipping the index; clean up the unused file
+	rm -f $part.ind
+    fi
+    if [ "$pdf" ] ; then
+	echo $srcdir'/tools/toc2bkm.py '$part
+	$srcdir/tools/toc2bkm.py $part
+    fi
+    echo "$latex $part"
+    $latex $part || exit $?
 fi
-if [ "$pdf" ] ; then
-    echo $srcdir'/tools/toc2bkm.py '$part
-    $srcdir/tools/toc2bkm.py $part
-fi
-echo "$latex $part"
-$latex $part || exit $?