diff --git a/docs/libcurl/CMakeLists.txt b/docs/libcurl/CMakeLists.txt
index 2aa051edd7..04fe84b525 100644
--- a/docs/libcurl/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/docs/libcurl/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -26,21 +26,39 @@ transform_makefile_inc("Makefile.inc" "${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/Makefile.inc.
 include("${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/Makefile.inc.cmake")
 
 function(add_manual_pages _listname)
-  foreach(_file IN LISTS ${_listname})
-    set(_rofffile "${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/${_file}")
+  # Maximum number of files per command to stay within shell/OS limits
+  if(UNIX)
+    set(_files_per_batch 10000)
+  else()  # e.g. Windows with cmd.exe and other obsolete/unidentified shells
+    set(_files_per_batch 200)
+  endif()
+  set(_file_count 0)
+  unset(_rofffiles)
+  unset(_mdfiles)
+  set(_eol "_EOL_")
+  foreach(_file IN LISTS ${_listname} _eol)
+    math(EXPR _file_count "${_file_count} + 1")
+    if(NOT _file_count LESS ${_files_per_batch} OR _file STREQUAL "_EOL_")
+      add_custom_command(OUTPUT ${_rofffiles}
+        WORKING_DIRECTORY ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}
+        COMMAND "${PERL_EXECUTABLE}" ${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR}/scripts/cd2nroff -k -d "${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}" ${_mdfiles}
+        DEPENDS ${_mdfiles}
+        VERBATIM
+      )
+      set(_file_count 0)
+      unset(_rofffiles)
+      unset(_mdfiles)
+    endif()
+
+    list(APPEND _rofffiles "${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/${_file}")
     if(_file STREQUAL "libcurl-symbols.3")
       # Special case, an auto-generated file.
       string(REPLACE ".3" ".md" _mdfile "${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/${_file}")
     else()
-      string(REPLACE ".3" ".md" _mdfile "${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/${_file}")
+      string(REPLACE ".3" ".md" _mdfile "${_file}")
     endif()
-    add_custom_command(OUTPUT "${_rofffile}"
-      COMMAND "${PERL_EXECUTABLE}" ${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR}/scripts/cd2nroff ${_mdfile} > ${_rofffile}
-      DEPENDS "${_mdfile}"
-      VERBATIM
-    )
+    list(APPEND _mdfiles "${_mdfile}")
   endforeach()
-
 endfunction()
 
 add_custom_command(OUTPUT libcurl-symbols.md