diff --git a/doc/man-pages/merge-pod b/doc/man-pages/merge-pod
index d35b6e1297..15ccc545e1 100755
--- a/doc/man-pages/merge-pod
+++ b/doc/man-pages/merge-pod
@@ -18,12 +18,15 @@ use File::Basename qw(dirname basename);
 my $start = getcwd;
 for my $file (@ARGV) {
     chdir $start or die "cannot chdir to $start: $!\n";
+    $file =~ s:\\:/:g if $^O eq 'cygwin';
     my $dir = dirname ($file);
     my $out = $file;
     unless ($out =~ s/\.in\z//) {
         die "input file $file does not end in .in\n";
     }
     open (FILE, "< $file") or die "cannot open $file: $!\n";
+    binmode FILE, ':crlf' if $^O eq 'MSWin32';
+    binmode FILE, ':crlf' if $^O eq 'cygwin';
     open (OUT, "> $out") or die "cannot open $out: $!\n";
     chdir $dir or die "cannot chdir to $dir: $!\n";
     local $/ = '';