diff --git a/CHANGES.txt b/CHANGES.txt
index f03b8164ad..f74ec9eda4 100644
--- a/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/CHANGES.txt
@@ -149,7 +149,8 @@ RELEASE  VERSION/DATE TO BE FILLED IN LATER
     - Clarify internal usage of zipimporter (not user-visible code)
     - Fixed an old problem in PDF doc generation where the path to an
       image file ended up with a "not found" error.
-    - Fixed a PDF doc build problem relating to illegal margin widths ("").
+    - Fixed PDF doc build problems relating to illegal margin widths ("")
+      and table column alignment.
     - Reference manual improvements:
       * More clarifications in Builder Methods section.
       * Clarify VariantDir behavior when switching from duplicate=True (the
diff --git a/RELEASE.txt b/RELEASE.txt
index a12b4c655f..382d791b83 100644
--- a/RELEASE.txt
+++ b/RELEASE.txt
@@ -187,7 +187,8 @@ DOCUMENTATION
 - Fixed an old problem in PDF doc generation where the path to an
   image file ended up with a "not found" error.
 
-- Fixed a PDF doc build problem relating to illegal margin widths ("").
+- Fixed PDF doc build problems relating to illegal margin widths ("")
+  and table column alignment.
 
 DEVELOPMENT
 -----------
diff --git a/SCons/Tool/docbook/__init__.py b/SCons/Tool/docbook/__init__.py
index f0e9ef5077..6e0e4672d7 100644
--- a/SCons/Tool/docbook/__init__.py
+++ b/SCons/Tool/docbook/__init__.py
@@ -313,13 +313,25 @@ def __build_lxml(target, source, env):
     xsl_tree = etree.parse(xsl_style)
     transform = etree.XSLT(xsl_tree, access_control=xslt_ac)
     doc = etree.parse(str(source[0]))
-    # Support for additional parameters
+    # NOTE: if someone ever wants to pass XSLT params via DOCBOOK_XSLTPROCFLAGS
+    # we should actually parse that here - look for --stringparam flags.
     parampass = {}
     if parampass:
         result = transform(doc, **parampass)
     else:
         result = transform(doc)
 
+    # Ensure all fo:table elements have table-layout="fixed".
+    # FOP uses proportional-column-width(1) for unspecified columns even
+    # without table-layout="fixed", which is invalid per XSL-FO spec and
+    # produces SEVERE errors. The docbook-xsl stylesheets only add
+    # table-layout="fixed" when there are proportional columns or fop
+    # extensions are enabled; FOP extension params generate fox: namespace
+    # elements that FOP itself warns about, so we fix it here instead.
+    for table in result.iter('{http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Format}table'):
+        if table.get('table-layout') is None:
+            table.set('table-layout', 'fixed')
+
     try:
         with open(str(target[0]), "wb") as of:
             of.write(etree.tostring(result, encoding="utf-8", pretty_print=True))
diff --git a/doc/design/SConstruct b/doc/design/SConstruct
index bda67d7870..5418ccf4c1 100644
--- a/doc/design/SConstruct
+++ b/doc/design/SConstruct
@@ -1,54 +1,33 @@
-#
-# SConstruct file for building SCons documentation.
-#
+# SPDX-FileCopyrightText: Copyright The SCons Foundation (https://scons.org)
+# SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT
 
-#
-# __COPYRIGHT__
-#
-# Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining
-# a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the
-# "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including
-# without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish,
-# distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to
-# permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to
-# the following conditions:
-#
-# The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included
-# in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.
-#
-# THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY
-# KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE
-# WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND
-# NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE
-# LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION
-# OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION
-# WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.
-
-"""
-SConstruct file for building SCons documentation.
 """
+SConstruct file for building SCons design document.
 
+Currently way out of date and not built during a doc build.
+
+If invoked directly, can add SKIP_PDF=1 to avoid pdf and epub generation.
+"""
 
 import os
 
-env = Environment(ENV={'PATH' : os.environ['PATH']},
-                  tools=['docbook'],
-                  toolpath=['../../SCons/Tool'],
-                  DOCBOOK_DEFAULT_XSL_HTML='html.xsl',
-                  DOCBOOK_DEFAULT_XSL_HTMLCHUNKED='chtml.xsl',
-                  DOCBOOK_DEFAULT_XSL_PDF='pdf.xsl')
+env = Environment(
+    ENV={'PATH': os.environ['PATH']},
+    tools=['docbook'],
+    toolpath=['../../SCons/Tool'],
+    # DOCBOOK_XSLTPROCFLAGS="--stringparam fop.extensions 1",
+    DOCBOOK_DEFAULT_XSL_HTML='html.xsl',
+    DOCBOOK_DEFAULT_XSL_HTMLCHUNKED='chtml.xsl',
+    DOCBOOK_DEFAULT_XSL_PDF='pdf.xsl',
+)
 
+skip_pdf = ARGUMENTS.get('SKIP_PDF', False)
 has_pdf = False
-if (env.WhereIs('fop') or
-    env.WhereIs('xep')):
+if not skip_pdf and any((env.WhereIs('fop'), env.WhereIs('xep'))):
     has_pdf = True
 
-#
-# Create document
-#
 env.DocbookXInclude('design_xi.xml', 'main.xml')
-env.DocbookXslt('design.xml', 'design_xi.xml',
-                xsl='../xslt/to_docbook.xslt')
-env.DocbookHtmlChunked('index.html','design.xml', base_dir='scons-design/')
+env.DocbookXslt('design.xml', 'design_xi.xml', xsl='../xslt/to_docbook.xslt')
+env.DocbookHtmlChunked('index.html', 'design.xml', base_dir='scons-design/')
 if has_pdf:
-    env.DocbookPdf('scons-design.pdf','design.xml')
+    env.DocbookPdf('scons-design.pdf', 'design.xml')
diff --git a/doc/developer/SConstruct b/doc/developer/SConstruct
index bd1c904549..8480a2e37d 100644
--- a/doc/developer/SConstruct
+++ b/doc/developer/SConstruct
@@ -1,45 +1,25 @@
-#
-# SConstruct file for building SCons documentation.
-#
+# SPDX-FileCopyrightText: Copyright The SCons Foundation (https://scons.org)
+# SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT
 
-#
-# __COPYRIGHT__
-#
-# Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining
-# a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the
-# "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including
-# without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish,
-# distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to
-# permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to
-# the following conditions:
-#
-# The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included
-# in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.
-#
-# THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY
-# KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE
-# WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND
-# NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE
-# LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION
-# OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION
-# WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.
+"""
+SConstruct file for building SCons documentation.
+
+The Developer Guide is only a stub, not build during a doc build.
+"""
 
 import os
 
 env = Environment(ENV={'PATH' : os.environ['PATH']},
-                  tools=['docbook'], 
+                  tools=['docbook'],
                   toolpath=['../../SCons/Tool'])
 
 has_pdf = False
-if (env.WhereIs('fop') or 
+if (env.WhereIs('fop') or
     env.WhereIs('xep')):
     has_pdf = True
 
-#
-# Create document
-#
 env.DocbookXInclude('developer_xi.xml', 'main.xml')
-env.DocbookXslt('developer.xml', 'developer_xi.xml', 
+env.DocbookXslt('developer.xml', 'developer_xi.xml',
                 xsl='../xslt/to_docbook.xslt')
 env.DocbookHtml('developer.html','developer.xml')
 if has_pdf:
diff --git a/doc/man/SConstruct b/doc/man/SConstruct
index 5c6d4fabb9..df07ffaf61 100644
--- a/doc/man/SConstruct
+++ b/doc/man/SConstruct
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ env = Environment(
     ENV={'PATH': os.environ['PATH']},
     tools=['docbook', 'gs', 'zip'],
     toolpath=['../../SCons/Tool'],
+    # DOCBOOK_XSLTPROCFLAGS="--stringparam fop.extensions 1",
     DOCBOOK_DEFAULT_XSL_HTML='html.xsl',
     DOCBOOK_DEFAULT_XSL_PDF='pdf.xsl',
 )
@@ -35,10 +36,6 @@ def createManPages(env, target):
     if has_pdf:
         env.DocbookPdf('scons-%s.pdf' % target, '%s_db.xml' % target)
 
-
-#
-# Create MAN pages
-#
 createManPages(env, "scons")
 createManPages(env, "sconsign")
 createManPages(env, "scons-time")
@@ -47,9 +44,6 @@ has_gs = False
 if env.WhereIs('gs'):
     has_gs = True
 
-#
-# Create the EPUB format
-#
 if has_gs and has_pdf:
     jpg = env.Gs(
         'OEBPS/cover.jpg',
diff --git a/doc/python10/SConstruct b/doc/python10/SConstruct
index 2928bda4e6..2bfb2e1d39 100644
--- a/doc/python10/SConstruct
+++ b/doc/python10/SConstruct
@@ -1,45 +1,25 @@
-#
-# SConstruct file for building SCons documentation.
-#
+# SPDX-FileCopyrightText: Copyright The SCons Foundation (https://scons.org)
+# SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT
 
-#
-# __COPYRIGHT__
-#
-# Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining
-# a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the
-# "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including
-# without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish,
-# distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to
-# permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to
-# the following conditions:
-#
-# The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included
-# in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.
-#
-# THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY
-# KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE
-# WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND
-# NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE
-# LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION
-# OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION
-# WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.
+"""
+SConstruct file for building SCons documentation.
+
+This overview is not maintained and is not built during the doc build.
+"""
 
 import os
 
 env = Environment(ENV={'PATH' : os.environ['PATH']},
-                  tools=['docbook'], 
+                  tools=['docbook'],
                   toolpath=['../../SCons/Tool'])
 
 has_pdf = False
-if (env.WhereIs('fop') or 
+if (env.WhereIs('fop') or
     env.WhereIs('xep')):
     has_pdf = True
 
-#
-# Create document
-#
 env.DocbookXInclude('python10_xi.xml', 'main.xml')
-env.DocbookXslt('python10.xml', 'python10_xi.xml', 
+env.DocbookXslt('python10.xml', 'python10_xi.xml',
                 xsl='../xslt/to_docbook.xslt')
 env.DocbookHtml('python10.html','python10.xml')
 if has_pdf:
diff --git a/doc/reference/SConstruct b/doc/reference/SConstruct
index edc21a0db5..b6c61100a0 100644
--- a/doc/reference/SConstruct
+++ b/doc/reference/SConstruct
@@ -1,48 +1,33 @@
-#
-# SConstruct file for building SCons documentation.
-#
+# SPDX-FileCopyrightText: Copyright The SCons Foundation (https://scons.org)
+# SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT
 
-#
-# __COPYRIGHT__
-#
-# Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining
-# a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the
-# "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including
-# without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish,
-# distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to
-# permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to
-# the following conditions:
-#
-# The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included
-# in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.
-#
-# THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY
-# KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE
-# WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND
-# NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE
-# LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION
-# OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION
-# WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.
+"""
+SConstruct file for building SCons Reference Manual.
+
+This is mostly a stub, and is not built as part of the doc build.
+
+If invoked directly, can add SKIP_PDF=1 to avoid pdf and epub generation.
+"""
 
 import os
 
-env = Environment(ENV={'PATH' : os.environ['PATH']},
-                  tools=['docbook'], 
-                  toolpath=['../../SCons/Tool'],
-                  DOCBOOK_DEFAULT_XSL_HTML='html.xsl',
-                  DOCBOOK_DEFAULT_XSL_HTMLCHUNKED='chtml.xsl',
-                  DOCBOOK_DEFAULT_XSL_PDF='pdf.xsl')
+env = Environment(
+    ENV={'PATH': os.environ['PATH']},
+    tools=['docbook'],
+    toolpath=['../../SCons/Tool'],
+    # DOCBOOK_XSLTPROCFLAGS="--stringparam fop.extensions 1",
+    DOCBOOK_DEFAULT_XSL_HTML='html.xsl',
+    DOCBOOK_DEFAULT_XSL_HTMLCHUNKED='chtml.xsl',
+    DOCBOOK_DEFAULT_XSL_PDF='pdf.xsl',
+)
 
+skip_pdf = ARGUMENTS.get('SKIP_PDF', False)
 has_pdf = False
-if (env.WhereIs('fop') or 
-    env.WhereIs('xep')):
+if not skip_pdf and any((env.WhereIs('fop'), env.WhereIs('xep'))):
     has_pdf = True
 
-#
-# Create document
-#
 env.DocbookXInclude('reference_xi.xml', 'main.xml')
-env.DocbookXslt('reference.xml', 'reference_xi.xml', 
+env.DocbookXslt('reference.xml', 'reference_xi.xml',
                 xsl='../xslt/to_docbook.xslt')
 env.DocbookHtml('index.html','reference.xml')
 env.DocbookHtmlChunked('index.html', 'reference.xml', base_dir='scons-reference/')
diff --git a/doc/reference/copyright.xml b/doc/reference/copyright.xml
index dcf169d540..511360adb5 100644
--- a/doc/reference/copyright.xml
+++ b/doc/reference/copyright.xml
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@
 <blockquote>
  <para>
 
-  SCons User's Guide Copyright (c) 2003 Steven Knight
+  SCons Reference Manual Copyright (c) 2003 Steven Knight
 
  </para>
 </blockquote>
diff --git a/doc/user/SConstruct b/doc/user/SConstruct
index 69792ae3e6..f479b26234 100644
--- a/doc/user/SConstruct
+++ b/doc/user/SConstruct
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ env = Environment(
     ENV={'PATH': os.environ['PATH']},
     tools=['docbook', 'gs', 'zip'],
     toolpath=['../../SCons/Tool'],
-    # DOCBOOK_XSLTPROCFLAGS="--stringparam  fop.extensions  1",
+    # DOCBOOK_XSLTPROCFLAGS="--stringparam fop.extensions 1",
     DOCBOOK_DEFAULT_XSL_HTML='html.xsl',
     DOCBOOK_DEFAULT_XSL_HTMLCHUNKED='chtml.xsl',
     DOCBOOK_DEFAULT_XSL_PDF='pdf.xsl',
@@ -26,9 +26,7 @@ has_pdf = False
 if not skip_pdf and any((env.WhereIs('fop'), env.WhereIs('xep'))):
     has_pdf = True
 
-#
 # UserGuide for SCons
-#
 env.DocbookXInclude('scons_xi.xml', 'main.xml')
 env.DocbookXslt('scons_ex.xml', 'scons_xi.xml', xsl='../xslt/xinclude_examples.xslt')
 env.DocbookXInclude('scons_exi.xml', 'scons_ex.xml')
@@ -42,9 +40,6 @@ has_gs = False
 if env.WhereIs('gs'):
     has_gs = True
 
-#
-# Create the EPUB format
-#
 if has_gs and has_pdf:
     jpg = env.Gs(
         'OEBPS/cover.jpg',