diff --git a/documentation/README b/documentation/README
index 8a47fd4a3fd07d41d61a7d681d82bd13ac74527d..aebece13758005a8b913b4570fee6118256f6f9b 100644
--- a/documentation/README
+++ b/documentation/README
@@ -128,6 +128,33 @@ dependencies in a virtual environment:
  $ pipenv install
  $ pipenv run make html
 
+Building the documentation in a container
+=========================================
+
+The documentation can be built in a container with the build-docs-container
+scripts in the tools/ directory. The default container command used by the
+script is docker, but the script also supports podman by setting the
+CONTAINERCMD variable in your environment:
+
+  $ export CONTAINERCMD=podman
+
+A basic usage of the script would be:
+
+  $ ./tools/build-docs-container debian:12
+
+This will the entire documentation in an Debian 12 container.
+
+The documentation can be built in other distributions. This list can be obtained
+by running:
+
+  $ ./tools/build-docs-container list
+
+The make target can optionally be provided to build a single documentation type
+(these targets are listed in the documentation Makefile). For example, to build
+the documentation in HTML and EPub formats, the following command can be used:
+
+  $ ./tools/build-docs-container ubuntu:24.04 epub html
+
 Style checking the Yocto Project documentation
 ==============================================
 
diff --git a/documentation/tools/build-docs-container b/documentation/tools/build-docs-container
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..b9578d6da49b707c4de215866b6396cfeff3d08b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/documentation/tools/build-docs-container
@@ -0,0 +1,119 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+#
+# Build a container ready to build the documentation be reading the dependencies
+# listed in poky.yaml.in, and start a documentation build in this container.
+#
+# Usage:
+#
+#   ./documentation/tools/build-docs-container <image> [<make target>]
+#
+# Where <image> is one of the keys in YQ_KEYS. E.g.:
+#
+#   ./documentation/tools/build-docs-container ubuntu:24.04 html
+#
+# Will build the docs in an Ubuntu 24.04 container in html.
+#
+# The container commands can be used by exporting CONTAINERCMD in the
+# environment. The default is docker, but podman can also be used.
+
+SCRIPT_DIR=$(cd -- "$(dirname -- "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")" &>/dev/null && pwd)
+CONTAINERCMD=${CONTAINERCMD:-docker}
+DOCS_DIR="$SCRIPT_DIR/../.."
+POKY_YAML_IN="$SCRIPT_DIR/../poky.yaml.in"
+
+# This lists the different images we can build and the keys we pass to yq to
+# find packages in poky.yaml.in.
+# The keys should be in the form of "<image>:<version>", as this will be passed
+# to FROM in the selected Dockerfile below.
+# These are common yq keys used for multiple distros.
+_UBUNTU_DEBIAN_YQ_KEYS=".UBUNTU_DEBIAN_HOST_PACKAGES_DOC .UBUNTU_DEBIAN_HOST_PACKAGES_DOC_PDF"
+declare -A YQ_KEYS=(
+  [ubuntu:22.04]="$_UBUNTU_DEBIAN_YQ_KEYS"
+  [ubuntu:24.04]="$_UBUNTU_DEBIAN_YQ_KEYS"
+  [debian:12]="$_UBUNTU_DEBIAN_YQ_KEYS"
+)
+
+# This lists the dockerfile to use for each of the distro listed in YQ_KEYS
+# above. There should be a 1 to 1 match between the keys listed in YQ_KEYS above
+# and the keys listed in DOCKERFILES below.
+declare -A DOCKERFILES=(
+  [ubuntu:22.04]="Dockerfile.ubuntu-debian"
+  [ubuntu:24.04]="Dockerfile.ubuntu-debian"
+  [debian:12]="Dockerfile.ubuntu-debian"
+)
+
+main ()
+{
+  if [ "$#" -lt 1 ]; then
+    echo "No image provided. Provide one of: ${!YQ_KEYS[*]}"
+    exit 1
+  elif [ "$1" = "list" ]; then
+    echo -e "Available container images:\n\n${!YQ_KEYS[*]}"
+    exit 0
+  fi
+
+  local image="$1"
+  shift
+  local make_targets="${*:-publish}"
+
+  for cmd in $CONTAINERCMD yq; do
+    if ! which "$cmd" >/dev/null 2>&1; then
+      echo "The $cmd command was not found. Make sure you have $cmd installed."
+      exit 1
+    fi
+  done
+
+  # Get the appropriate dockerfile from DOCKERFILES
+  dockerfile="${DOCKERFILES[$image]}"
+
+  local temporary_dep_file="$SCRIPT_DIR/dockerfiles/deps"
+  echo -n > "$temporary_dep_file" # empty the file
+  for dep_key in ${YQ_KEYS[$image]}; do
+    yq --raw-output --join-output "$dep_key" "$POKY_YAML_IN" >> "$temporary_dep_file"
+    # add a white space after last element of yq command
+    echo -n " " >> "$temporary_dep_file"
+  done
+
+  # docker build doesn't accept 2 colons, so "sanitize" the name
+  local sanitized_dockername
+  sanitized_dockername=$(echo "$image" | tr ':.' '-')
+
+  $CONTAINERCMD build \
+    --tag yocto-docs-$sanitized_dockername:latest \
+    --build-arg ARG_FROM="$image" \
+    --file "$SCRIPT_DIR/dockerfiles/$dockerfile" \
+    "$SCRIPT_DIR/dockerfiles"
+
+  # We can remove the deps file, we no longer need it
+  rm -f "$temporary_dep_file"
+
+  local -a args_run=(
+    --rm
+    --interactive
+    --tty
+    --volume="$DOCS_DIR:/docs:rw"
+    --workdir=/docs
+    --security-opt label=disable
+  )
+
+  if [ "$CONTAINERCMD" = "docker" ]; then
+    args_run+=(
+      --user="$(id -u)":"$(id -g)"
+    )
+  elif [ "$CONTAINERCMD" = "podman" ]; then
+    # we need net access to fetch bitbake terms
+    args_run+=(
+      --cap-add=NET_RAW
+      --userns=keep-id
+    )
+  fi
+
+  $CONTAINERCMD run \
+    "${args_run[@]}" \
+    yocto-docs-$sanitized_dockername \
+    make -C documentation $make_targets
+}
+
+set -eu -o pipefail
+
+main "$@"
diff --git a/documentation/tools/dockerfiles/Dockerfile.ubuntu-debian b/documentation/tools/dockerfiles/Dockerfile.ubuntu-debian
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..3c543dc4b0e96dc9c00b201558e2ed00847339fa
--- /dev/null
+++ b/documentation/tools/dockerfiles/Dockerfile.ubuntu-debian
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+ARG ARG_FROM=debian:12 # default value to avoid warning
+FROM $ARG_FROM
+
+ENV DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive
+
+# relative to the location of the dockerfile
+COPY deps /deps
+
+RUN apt-get update \
+ && apt-get --yes --no-install-recommends install $(cat /deps) \
+ && apt-get --yes autoremove \
+ && apt-get clean \
+ && rm /deps
+
+RUN echo "en_US.UTF-8 UTF-8" >> /etc/locale.gen && locale-gen
+
+RUN git config --global --add safe.directory /docs
+