diff --git a/README b/README
index 1a0e9df24c43..4175c303360e 100644
--- a/README
+++ b/README
@@ -128,3 +128,11 @@ To get out of maintenance mode:
       -A ATTR
 
   where ATTR is an attribute in system/system.nix (e.g., bootStage1).
+
+- Testing the installer:
+
+  $ dd if=/dev/zero of=diskimage seek=2G count=0 bs=1
+  $ yes | mke2fs -j diskimage
+  $ mount -o loop diskimage /mnt
+  $ nixos-installer /mnt /etc/nixos/nixos/ /etc/nixos/configuration.nix
+
diff --git a/doc/manual/Makefile b/doc/manual/Makefile
index a8c2456c46d4..c6998f6e8e53 100644
--- a/doc/manual/Makefile
+++ b/doc/manual/Makefile
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ XSLTPROC = xsltproc --catalogs \
 
 docbookxsl = $(HOME)/.nix-profile/xml/xsl/docbook
 
-manual.html: manual.xml options-db.xml
+manual.html: *.xml options-db.xml
 	$(XSLTPROC) --nonet --xinclude --output $@ \
 	  $(docbookxsl)/html/docbook.xsl manual.xml
 
diff --git a/installer/nixos-installer.nix b/installer/nixos-installer.nix
index ab1cd1d46277..66320e51c34d 100644
--- a/installer/nixos-installer.nix
+++ b/installer/nixos-installer.nix
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
 }:
 
 substituteAll {
+  name = "nixos-installer";
   src = ./nixos-installer.sh;
   dir = "bin";
   isExecutable = true;
diff --git a/installer/nixos-installer.sh b/installer/nixos-installer.sh
index ac62d81bd139..73f654716eb1 100644
--- a/installer/nixos-installer.sh
+++ b/installer/nixos-installer.sh
@@ -117,7 +117,9 @@ cp /etc/resolv.conf $mountPoint/etc/
 # the CD can be copied directly.
 echo "registering substitutes to speed up builds..."
 chroot $mountPoint @nix@/bin/nix-store --clear-substitutes
-chroot $mountPoint @nix@/bin/nix-pull file:///mnt/MANIFEST
+if test -e /mnt/MANIFEST; then
+    chroot $mountPoint @nix@/bin/nix-pull file:///mnt/MANIFEST
+fi
 rm -f $mountPoint/tmp/inst-store
 ln -s /mnt/nix/store $mountPoint/tmp/inst-store