diff --git a/MAINTAINERS b/MAINTAINERS
index 9100f9a043..814d103fe1 100644
--- a/MAINTAINERS
+++ b/MAINTAINERS
@@ -3451,6 +3451,7 @@ S: Maintained
 F: docs/conf.py
 F: docs/*/conf.py
 F: docs/sphinx/
+F: docs/_templates/
 
 Miscellaneous
 -------------
diff --git a/docs/_templates/footer.html b/docs/_templates/footer.html
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..4c15e17d2a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/_templates/footer.html
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+{% extends "!footer.html" %}
+{% block extrafooter %}
+
+<!-- Empty para to force a blank line after "Built with Sphinx ..." -->
+<p></p>
+
+{% trans path=pathto('about/license') %}
+<p><a href="{{ path }}">QEMU and this manual are released under the
+GNU General Public License, version 2.</a></p>
+{% endtrans %}
+{{ super() }}
+{% endblock %}
diff --git a/docs/meson.build b/docs/meson.build
index 855e3916e9..300b134329 100644
--- a/docs/meson.build
+++ b/docs/meson.build
@@ -44,6 +44,7 @@ if build_docs
                           meson.source_root() / 'docs/sphinx/qapidoc.py',
                           meson.source_root() / 'docs/sphinx/qmp_lexer.py',
                           qapi_gen_depends ]
+  sphinx_template_files = [ meson.source_root() / 'docs/_templates/footer.html' ]
 
   have_ga = have_tools and config_host.has_key('CONFIG_GUEST_AGENT')
 
@@ -76,7 +77,7 @@ if build_docs
                 output: 'docs.stamp',
                 input: files('conf.py'),
                 depfile: 'docs.d',
-                depend_files: sphinx_extn_depends,
+                depend_files: [ sphinx_extn_depends, sphinx_template_files ],
                 command: [SPHINX_ARGS, '-Ddepfile=@DEPFILE@',
                           '-Ddepfile_stamp=@OUTPUT0@',
                           '-b', 'html', '-d', private_dir,