diff --git a/Documentation/DocBook/Makefile b/Documentation/DocBook/Makefile
index 327bf57..7b8831f 100644
--- a/Documentation/DocBook/Makefile
+++ b/Documentation/DocBook/Makefile
@@ -71,6 +71,7 @@
 # no-op for the DocBook toolchain
 epubdocs:
 latexdocs:
+linkcheckdocs:
 
 ###
 #External programs used
diff --git a/Documentation/Makefile.sphinx b/Documentation/Makefile.sphinx
index 8284f3d..bcf529f 100644
--- a/Documentation/Makefile.sphinx
+++ b/Documentation/Makefile.sphinx
@@ -69,6 +69,9 @@
 htmldocs:
 	@+$(foreach var,$(SPHINXDIRS),$(call loop_cmd,sphinx,html,$(var),,$(var)))
 
+linkcheckdocs:
+	@$(foreach var,$(SPHINXDIRS),$(call loop_cmd,sphinx,linkcheck,$(var),,$(var)))
+
 latexdocs:
 	@+$(foreach var,$(SPHINXDIRS),$(call loop_cmd,sphinx,latex,$(var),latex,$(var)))
 
@@ -117,6 +120,7 @@
 	@echo  '  pdfdocs         - PDF'
 	@echo  '  epubdocs        - EPUB'
 	@echo  '  xmldocs         - XML'
+	@echo  '  linkcheckdocs   - check for broken external links (will connect to external hosts)'
 	@echo  '  cleandocs       - clean all generated files'
 	@echo
 	@echo  '  make SPHINXDIRS="s1 s2" [target] Generate only docs of folder s1, s2'
diff --git a/Documentation/media/Makefile b/Documentation/media/Makefile
index 730d73d..9b3e70b 100644
--- a/Documentation/media/Makefile
+++ b/Documentation/media/Makefile
@@ -103,6 +103,7 @@
 epub: all
 xml: all
 latex: $(IMGPDF) all
+linkcheck:
 
 clean:
 	-rm -f $(DOTTGT) $(IMGTGT) ${TARGETS} 2>/dev/null
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index ec411ba..96e29f9 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -1444,7 +1444,7 @@
 
 # Documentation targets
 # ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
-DOC_TARGETS := xmldocs sgmldocs psdocs latexdocs pdfdocs htmldocs mandocs installmandocs epubdocs cleandocs
+DOC_TARGETS := xmldocs sgmldocs psdocs latexdocs pdfdocs htmldocs mandocs installmandocs epubdocs cleandocs linkcheckdocs
 PHONY += $(DOC_TARGETS)
 $(DOC_TARGETS): scripts_basic FORCE
 	$(Q)$(MAKE) $(build)=scripts build_docproc build_check-lc_ctype