diff --git a/asciidoc-pmg.in b/asciidoc-pmg.in
index ec4bb2a..74899e8 100644
--- a/asciidoc-pmg.in
+++ b/asciidoc-pmg.in
@@ -146,7 +146,11 @@ sub replace_man_xref {
     die "xref: no text for man page link '$blockid'\n" if !$text;
 
     my $section = $fileinfo->{mansection}->{manvolnum}->{$link};
-    die "link target is not a manual page" if !defined($section);
+    # die "link target is not a manual page" if !defined($section);
+    if (!defined($section)) {
+	warn "link '$blockid' target '$link' is not a manual page, ignoring\n";
+	return "$text";
+    }
 
 
     if ($man_target eq 'html') {