diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
index 780452af6..62a0f4176 100644
--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -53,6 +53,10 @@ GNU coreutils NEWS                                    -*- outline -*-
 
 ** Changes in behavior
 
+  command --help output will no longer be marked up with bold or hyperlinks
+  when output is not a tty.  E.g. paged --help output will no longer
+  contain URLs to the full online manual.
+
   'env' and 'printenv' now quote printed environment variables only when
   outputting to a terminal.  The previous release enabled this for all
   outputs by default, requiring setting QUOTING_STYLE=literal to disable.
diff --git a/doc/coreutils.texi b/doc/coreutils.texi
index 2eb57d4b0..b774a4217 100644
--- a/doc/coreutils.texi
+++ b/doc/coreutils.texi
@@ -765,11 +765,14 @@ these programs, abbreviations of the long options are not always recognized.
 @item --help
 @opindex --help
 @vindex TERM
+@vindex IN_HELP2MAN
 @cindex help, online
 Print a usage message listing all available options, then exit successfully.
-Help output may be marked up with terminal codes for formatting or
-hyperlinks, which can be disabled by unsetting the @env{TERM} environment
-variable, or setting it to the value @samp{dumb}.
+When outputting to a tty @option{--help} output may be marked up with
+terminal codes for formatting or hyperlinks, which can be disabled by
+unsetting the @env{TERM} environment variable, or setting it to the value
+@samp{dumb}.  To force the use of markup when output is not a tty,
+e.g. when piping to a pager, set the @env{IN_HELP2MAN} environment variable.
 
 @item --version
 @opindex --version
diff --git a/man/local.mk b/man/local.mk
index 156b0e18c..00d24acc5 100644
--- a/man/local.mk
+++ b/man/local.mk
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ if HAVE_PERL
 if BOLD_MAN_REFS
 help2man_OPTS=--bold-refs
 endif
-run_help2man = env IN_HELP2MAN=1 TERM=not_dumb $(PERL) -- \
+run_help2man = env IN_HELP2MAN=1 $(PERL) -- \
 	       $(srcdir)/man/help2man --loose-indent $(help2man_OPTS)
 else
 run_help2man = $(SHELL) $(srcdir)/man/dummy-man
diff --git a/src/system.h b/src/system.h
index 84be742ff..bbe8f09a8 100644
--- a/src/system.h
+++ b/src/system.h
@@ -584,20 +584,22 @@ is_nul (void const *buf, size_t length)
 static inline void
 oputs_ (MAYBE_UNUSED char const *program, char const *option)
 {
-  static int help_no_sgr =
-#if ! defined MANUAL_URL && ! defined BOLD_MAN_REFS
-    1;   /* Disable.  */
-#else
+  static int help_markup =
+#if defined MANUAL_URL || defined BOLD_MAN_REFS
     -1;  /* Lookup.  */
+#else
+    0;   /* Disable.  */
 #endif
-  if (help_no_sgr == -1)
+  if (help_markup == -1)
     {
-      /* Note we don't consult isatty() since usually you
-         would want markup when piping to grep/less etc.  */
-      char const *term = getenv ("TERM");
-      help_no_sgr = (!term || !*term || streq (term, "dumb"));
+      /* Note one generally would want markup when piping to grep/less etc.
+         but we're conservative here for now, and only markup to tty.  */
+      char const *te;
+      help_markup = (isatty (STDOUT_FILENO)
+                     ? ((te = getenv ("TERM")) && *te && !streq (te, "dumb"))
+                     : getenv ("IN_HELP2MAN") != NULL);
     }
-  if (help_no_sgr)
+  if (! help_markup)
     {
       fputs (option, stdout);
       return;