diff --git a/nixos/doc/manual/manual.xml b/nixos/doc/manual/manual.xml
index 12f52e1997c..18a67a2dd94 100644
--- a/nixos/doc/manual/manual.xml
+++ b/nixos/doc/manual/manual.xml
@@ -8,32 +8,7 @@
   <subtitle>Version <xi:include href="./generated/version" parse="text" />
   </subtitle>
  </info>
- <preface xml:id="preface">
-  <title>Preface</title>
-  <para>
-   This manual describes how to install, use and extend NixOS, a Linux
-   distribution based on the purely functional package management system Nix.
-  </para>
-  <para>
-   If you encounter problems, please report them on the
-   <literal
-    xlink:href="https://discourse.nixos.org">Discourse</literal> or
-   on the <link
-    xlink:href="irc://irc.freenode.net/#nixos">
-   <literal>#nixos</literal> channel on Freenode</link>. Bugs should be
-   reported in
-   <link
-    xlink:href="https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/issues">NixOS’
-   GitHub issue tracker</link>.
-  </para>
-  <note>
-   <para>
-    Commands prefixed with <literal>#</literal> have to be run as root, either
-    requiring to login as root user or temporarily switching to it using
-    <literal>sudo</literal> for example.
-   </para>
-  </note>
- </preface>
+ <xi:include href="preface.xml" />
  <xi:include href="installation/installation.xml" />
  <xi:include href="configuration/configuration.xml" />
  <xi:include href="administration/running.xml" />
diff --git a/nixos/doc/manual/preface.xml b/nixos/doc/manual/preface.xml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..e9cb3b08e08
--- /dev/null
+++ b/nixos/doc/manual/preface.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,29 @@
+<preface xmlns="http://docbook.org/ns/docbook"
+         xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"
+         xml:id="preface">
+ <title>Preface</title>
+ <para>
+  This manual describes how to install, use and extend NixOS, a Linux
+  distribution based on the purely functional package management system
+  <link xlink:href="https://nixos.org/nix">Nix</link>.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+  If you encounter problems, please report them on the
+  <literal
+   xlink:href="https://discourse.nixos.org">Discourse</literal> or
+  on the <link
+   xlink:href="irc://irc.freenode.net/#nixos">
+  <literal>#nixos</literal> channel on Freenode</link>. Bugs should be
+  reported in
+  <link
+   xlink:href="https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/issues">NixOS’
+  GitHub issue tracker</link>.
+ </para>
+ <note>
+  <para>
+   Commands prefixed with <literal>#</literal> have to be run as root, either
+   requiring to login as root user or temporarily switching to it using
+   <literal>sudo</literal> for example.
+  </para>
+ </note>
+</preface>