diff --git a/modules/TDEMacros.cmake b/modules/TDEMacros.cmake
index c1f8ab6..75bdf15 100644
--- a/modules/TDEMacros.cmake
+++ b/modules/TDEMacros.cmake
@@ -1957,12 +1957,20 @@ macro( tde_create_handbook )
   unset( _extra )
   unset( _srcdir )
 
+  get_filename_component( _source_basedir "${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}" ABSOLUTE )
   set( _lang en )
   set( _first_arg 1 )
   set( _var _target )
 
   foreach( _arg ${ARGN} )
 
+    # found directive "SOURCE_BASEDIR"
+    if( "+${_arg}" STREQUAL "+SOURCE_BASEDIR" )
+      unset( _source_basedir )
+      set( _var _source_basedir )
+      set( _directive 1 )
+    endif()
+
     # found directive "NOINDEX"
     if( "+${_arg}" STREQUAL "+NOINDEX" )
       set( _noindex 1 )
@@ -2019,6 +2027,16 @@ macro( tde_create_handbook )
 
   endforeach()
 
+  # if source_basedir is relative, complete the path to absolute
+  if( NOT IS_ABSOLUTE ${_source_basedir} )
+    get_filename_component( _source_basedir "${_source_basedir}" ABSOLUTE )
+  endif()
+
+  # prepare the binary directory according to source_basedir
+  file( RELATIVE_PATH _binary_basedir "${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}" "${_source_basedir}" )
+  set( _binary_basedir "${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/${_binary_basedir}" )
+  file( MAKE_DIRECTORY "${_binary_basedir}" )
+
   # if no target specified, try to guess it from DESTINATION
   if( NOT _target )
     if( NOT _dest )
@@ -2029,9 +2047,24 @@ macro( tde_create_handbook )
 
   set( _target "${_target}-${_lang}-handbook" )
 
+  # if sources are listed, complete the path to absolute
+  if( _srcs )
+    foreach( _src ${_srcs} )
+      if( NOT IS_ABSOLUTE ${_src} )
+        list( REMOVE_ITEM _srcs ${_src} )
+        get_filename_component( _src "${_source_basedir}/${_src}" ABSOLUTE )
+        list( APPEND _srcs ${_src} )
+      endif()
+    endforeach()
+  endif()
+
   # if no file specified, include all docbooks, stylesheets and images
   if( NOT _srcs )
-    file( GLOB _srcs RELATIVE ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR} *.docbook *.css *.png  )
+    file( GLOB _srcs
+      ${_source_basedir}/*.docbook
+      ${_source_basedir}/*.css
+      ${_source_basedir}/*.png
+    )
   endif()
 
   # if no destination specified, defaulting to HTML_INSTALL_DIR
@@ -2050,7 +2083,7 @@ macro( tde_create_handbook )
   if( NOT _noindex )
 
     # check for index.docbook
-    list( FIND _srcs "index.docbook" _find_index )
+    list( FIND _srcs "${_source_basedir}/index.docbook" _find_index )
     if( -1 EQUAL _find_index )
       tde_message_fatal( "missing index.docbook file" )
     endif()
@@ -2061,14 +2094,16 @@ macro( tde_create_handbook )
     endif()
 
     add_custom_command(
-      OUTPUT index.cache.bz2
-      COMMAND ${KDE3_MEINPROC_EXECUTABLE} ${_srcdir} --check --cache index.cache.bz2 ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/index.docbook
+      OUTPUT ${_binary_basedir}/index.cache.bz2
+      COMMAND ${KDE3_MEINPROC_EXECUTABLE} ${_srcdir} --check --cache index.cache.bz2 ${_source_basedir}/index.docbook
       COMMENT "Generating ${_target}"
-      DEPENDS ${_srcs} )
+      DEPENDS ${_srcs}
+      WORKING_DIRECTORY "${_binary_basedir}"
+    )
 
-    add_custom_target( ${_target} ALL DEPENDS index.cache.bz2 )
+    add_custom_target( ${_target} ALL DEPENDS ${_binary_basedir}/index.cache.bz2 )
 
-    list( APPEND _srcs ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/index.cache.bz2 )
+    list( APPEND _srcs ${_binary_basedir}/index.cache.bz2 )
 
     if( NOT TDE_HTML_DIR )
       set( TDE_HTML_DIR ${HTML_INSTALL_DIR} )