diff --git a/common/mlstdutils/Makefile.am b/common/mlstdutils/Makefile.am
index 9e0b34d42..303c87c93 100644
--- a/common/mlstdutils/Makefile.am
+++ b/common/mlstdutils/Makefile.am
@@ -33,8 +33,6 @@ SOURCES_ML = \
 	stringMap.ml \
 	std_utils.ml
 
-if HAVE_OCAML
-
 # We pretend that we're building a C library.  automake handles the
 # compilation of the C sources for us.  At the end we take the C
 # objects and OCaml objects and link them into the OCaml library.
@@ -146,6 +144,4 @@ depend: .depend
 
 -include .depend
 
-endif
-
 .PHONY: depend docs
diff --git a/docs/guestfs-building.pod b/docs/guestfs-building.pod
index 68197e578..493a92b9e 100644
--- a/docs/guestfs-building.pod
+++ b/docs/guestfs-building.pod
@@ -120,8 +120,7 @@ I<Required>.  Part of Perl core.
 
 =item OCaml findlib
 
-I<Required> if compiling from git.
-Optional (but recommended) if compiling from tarball.
+I<Required>.
 
 =item autoconf
 
@@ -600,8 +599,12 @@ See L</USING A PREBUILT BINARY APPLIANCE> below.
 Disable specific language bindings, even if C<./configure> finds all
 the necessary libraries are installed so that they could be compiled.
 
-Note that disabling OCaml or Perl will have the knock-on effect of
-disabling large numbers of virt tools and parts of the test suite.
+Note that disabling OCaml (bindings) or Perl will have the knock-on
+effect of disabling parts of the test suite and some tools.
+
+OCaml is required to build libguestfs and this requirement cannot be
+removed.  Using I<--disable-ocaml> only disables the bindings and
+OCaml tools.
 
 =item B<--disable-fuse>
 
diff --git a/generator/Makefile.am b/generator/Makefile.am
index 3f54ad51d..344ba9bcb 100644
--- a/generator/Makefile.am
+++ b/generator/Makefile.am
@@ -177,8 +177,6 @@ OCAMLFLAGS = $(OCAML_FLAGS) $(OCAML_WARN_ERROR)
 
 noinst_PROGRAM = generator
 
-if HAVE_OCAML
-
 generator: $(objects)
 	$(OCAMLFIND) ocamlc $(OCAMLFLAGS) $(OCAMLPACKAGES) -linkpkg $^ -o $@
 
@@ -196,19 +194,6 @@ depend: .depend
 
 -include .depend
 
-else
-
-# No OCaml compiler.  Just replace the generator with a script that
-# prints a warning.
-
-generator:
-	rm -f $@ $@-t
-	echo 'echo Warning: Install OCaml compiler in order to rebuild the generated files.' > $@-t
-	chmod +x $@-t
-	mv $@-t $@
-
-endif
-
 noinst_DATA = stamp-generator
 
 # Run the generator.
diff --git a/m4/guestfs_ocaml.m4 b/m4/guestfs_ocaml.m4
index c18a3de40..a5118c9fa 100644
--- a/m4/guestfs_ocaml.m4
+++ b/m4/guestfs_ocaml.m4
@@ -15,55 +15,52 @@
 # along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
 # Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA.
 
-dnl Check for OCaml (optional, for OCaml bindings and OCaml tools).
-OCAMLC=no
-OCAMLFIND=no
+dnl Check for OCaml (required, for OCaml bindings and OCaml tools).
+
+dnl OCAMLC and OCAMLFIND have to be unset first, otherwise
+dnl AC_CHECK_TOOL (inside AC_PROG_OCAML) will not look.
+OCAMLC=
+OCAMLFIND=
+AC_PROG_OCAML
+AC_PROG_FINDLIB
+
+AS_IF([test "x$OCAMLC" = "xno"],[
+    AC_MSG_ERROR([OCaml compiler is required])
+])
+
+AS_IF([test "x$OCAMLFIND" = "xno"],[
+    AC_MSG_ERROR([OCaml findlib is required])
+])
+
+dnl --disable-ocaml only disables OCaml bindings and OCaml virt tools.
 AC_ARG_ENABLE([ocaml],
-    AS_HELP_STRING([--disable-ocaml], [disable OCaml language bindings]),
+    AS_HELP_STRING([--disable-ocaml], [disable OCaml language bindings and tools]),
     [],
     [enable_ocaml=yes])
-AS_IF([test "x$enable_ocaml" != "xno"],[
-    dnl OCAMLC and OCAMLFIND have to be unset first, otherwise
-    dnl AC_CHECK_TOOL (inside AC_PROG_OCAML) will not look.
-    OCAMLC=
-    OCAMLFIND=
-    AC_PROG_OCAML
-    AC_PROG_FINDLIB
 
-    dnl OCaml >= 3.11 is required.
-    AC_MSG_CHECKING([if OCaml version >= 3.11])
-    ocaml_major="`echo $OCAMLVERSION | $AWK -F. '{print $1}'`"
-    ocaml_minor="`echo $OCAMLVERSION | $AWK -F. '{print $2}'`"
-    AS_IF([test "$ocaml_major" -ge 4 || ( test "$ocaml_major" -eq 3 && test "$ocaml_minor" -ge 11 )],[
-        AC_MSG_RESULT([yes])
-    ],[
-        AC_MSG_RESULT([no])
-        AC_MSG_FAILURE([OCaml compiler is not new enough.  At least OCaml 3.11 is required])
-    ])
+dnl OCaml >= 3.11 is required.
+AC_MSG_CHECKING([if OCaml version >= 3.11])
+ocaml_major="`echo $OCAMLVERSION | $AWK -F. '{print $1}'`"
+ocaml_minor="`echo $OCAMLVERSION | $AWK -F. '{print $2}'`"
+AS_IF([test "$ocaml_major" -ge 4 || ( test "$ocaml_major" -eq 3 && test "$ocaml_minor" -ge 11 )],[
+    AC_MSG_RESULT([yes])
+],[
+    AC_MSG_RESULT([no])
+    AC_MSG_FAILURE([OCaml compiler is not new enough.  At least OCaml 3.11 is required])
 ])
+
 AM_CONDITIONAL([HAVE_OCAML],
-               [test "x$OCAMLC" != "xno" && test "x$OCAMLFIND" != "xno"])
+               [test "x$enable_ocaml" != "xno"])
 AM_CONDITIONAL([HAVE_OCAMLOPT],
-               [test "x$OCAMLOPT" != "xno" && test "x$OCAMLFIND" != "xno"])
+               [test "x$OCAMLOPT" != "xno"])
 AM_CONDITIONAL([HAVE_OCAMLDOC],
                [test "x$OCAMLDOC" != "xno"])
 
-dnl OCaml is required if we need to run the generator.
-AS_IF([test "x$OCAMLC" = "xno" || test "x$OCAMLFIND" = "xno"],[
-    AS_IF([! test -f $srcdir/common/protocol/guestfs_protocol.x],[
-        AC_MSG_FAILURE([OCaml compiler and findlib is required to build from git.
-If you don't have OCaml available, you should build from a tarball from
-http://libguestfs.org/download])
-    ])
-])
-
-AS_IF([test "x$OCAMLC" != "xno"],[
-    dnl Check for <caml/unixsupport.h> header.
-    old_CPPFLAGS="$CPPFLAGS"
-    CPPFLAGS="$CPPFLAGS -I`$OCAMLC -where`"
-    AC_CHECK_HEADERS([caml/unixsupport.h],[],[],[#include <caml/mlvalues.h>])
-    CPPFLAGS="$old_CPPFLAGS"
-])
+dnl Check for <caml/unixsupport.h> header.
+old_CPPFLAGS="$CPPFLAGS"
+CPPFLAGS="$CPPFLAGS -I`$OCAMLC -where`"
+AC_CHECK_HEADERS([caml/unixsupport.h],[],[],[#include <caml/mlvalues.h>])
+CPPFLAGS="$old_CPPFLAGS"
 
 OCAML_PKG_gettext=no
 OCAML_PKG_libvirt=no
@@ -102,15 +99,15 @@ AS_IF([test "x$OCAMLC" != "xno"],[
     fi
 ])
 AM_CONDITIONAL([HAVE_OCAML_PKG_GETTEXT],
-    [test "x$OCAMLC" != "xno" && test "x$OCAMLFIND" != "xno" && test "x$OCAML_PKG_gettext" != "xno"])
+               [test "x$OCAML_PKG_gettext" != "xno"])
 AM_CONDITIONAL([HAVE_OCAML_PKG_LIBVIRT],
-    [test "x$OCAMLC" != "xno" && test "x$OCAMLFIND" != "xno" && test "x$OCAML_PKG_libvirt" != "xno"])
+               [test "x$OCAML_PKG_libvirt" != "xno"])
 AM_CONDITIONAL([HAVE_OCAML_PKG_OUNIT],
-    [test "x$OCAMLC" != "xno" && test "x$OCAMLFIND" != "xno" && test "x$OCAML_PKG_oUnit" != "xno" && test "x$ounit_is_v2" != "xno"])
+               [test "x$OCAML_PKG_oUnit" != "xno" && test "x$ounit_is_v2" != "xno"])
 
 AC_CHECK_PROG([OCAML_GETTEXT],[ocaml-gettext],[ocaml-gettext],[no])
 AM_CONDITIONAL([HAVE_OCAML_GETTEXT],
-    [test "x$OCAMLC" != "xno" && test "x$OCAMLFIND" != "xno" && test "x$OCAML_PKG_gettext" != "xno" && test "x$OCAML_GETTEXT" != "xno"])
+               [test "x$OCAML_PKG_gettext" != "xno" && test "x$OCAML_GETTEXT" != "xno"])
 
 dnl Create the backwards compatibility Bytes module for OCaml < 4.02.
 mkdir -p common/mlstdutils