diff -ur htmldoc-1.8.23.orig/htmldoc/htmldoc.cxx htmldoc-1.8.23/htmldoc/htmldoc.cxx
--- htmldoc-1.8.23.orig/htmldoc/htmldoc.cxx	2002-10-25 16:37:54.000000000 +0300
+++ htmldoc-1.8.23/htmldoc/htmldoc.cxx	2003-08-20 21:14:41.000000000 +0300
@@ -83,6 +83,12 @@
 static void	term_handler(int signum);
 static void	usage(void);
 
+/*
+ * Local variables...
+ */
+
+int autocharset = 0;
+
 
 /*
  * 'main()' - Main entry for HTMLDOC.
@@ -247,7 +253,13 @@
     {
       i ++;
       if (i < argc)
-        htmlSetCharSet(argv[i]);
+      {
+        if (strcmp(argv[i], "auto") == 0) 
+	{
+	  autocharset = 1;
+	}
+	else htmlSetCharSet(argv[i]);
+      }
       else
         usage();
     }
@@ -1034,6 +1046,9 @@
 
   while (document->prev != NULL)
     document = document->prev;
+    
+  if (autocharset)
+    htmlSetMetaCharSet(document);
 
   htmlDebugStats("Document Tree", document);
 
@@ -1269,7 +1284,13 @@
       else if (strncasecmp(line, "XRXCOMMENTS=", 12) == 0)
 	XRXComments = atoi(line + 12);
       else if (strncasecmp(line, "CHARSET=", 8) == 0)
-	htmlSetCharSet(line + 8);
+      {
+	if (strcmp(line + 8, "auto") == 0) 
+	{
+	  autocharset = 1;
+	}
+	else htmlSetCharSet(line + 8);
+      }
       else if (strncasecmp(line, "PAGEMODE=", 9) == 0)
 	PDFPageMode = atoi(line + 9);
       else if (strncasecmp(line, "PAGELAYOUT=", 11) == 0)
@@ -1994,7 +2015,13 @@
       }
     }
     else if (strcmp(temp, "--charset") == 0)
-      htmlSetCharSet(temp2);
+    {
+      if (strcmp(temp2, "auto") == 0)
+      {
+        autocharset = 1;
+      }
+      else htmlSetCharSet(temp2);
+    }
     else if (strcmp(temp, "--pagemode") == 0)
     {
       for (i = 0; i < (int)(sizeof(PDFModes) / sizeof(PDFModes[0])); i ++)
diff -ur htmldoc-1.8.23.orig/htmldoc/html.h htmldoc-1.8.23/htmldoc/html.h
--- htmldoc-1.8.23.orig/htmldoc/html.h	2002-07-27 06:41:31.000000000 +0300
+++ htmldoc-1.8.23/htmldoc/html.h	2003-08-20 20:55:23.000000000 +0300
@@ -309,6 +309,7 @@
 
 extern void	htmlSetBaseSize(float p, float s);
 extern void	htmlSetCharSet(const char *cs);
+extern int	htmlSetMetaCharSet(tree_t *tree);
 extern void	htmlSetTextColor(uchar *color);
 
 extern void	htmlDebugStats(const char *title, tree_t *t);
diff -ur htmldoc-1.8.23.orig/htmldoc/htmllib.cxx htmldoc-1.8.23/htmldoc/htmllib.cxx
--- htmldoc-1.8.23.orig/htmldoc/htmllib.cxx	2002-10-11 17:23:28.000000000 +0300
+++ htmldoc-1.8.23/htmldoc/htmllib.cxx	2003-08-20 21:56:21.000000000 +0300
@@ -1854,6 +1854,73 @@
   return (NULL);
 }
 
+/*
+ * 'htmlGetMetaCharSet()' - Get document charset from "meta" data...
+ */
+
+int
+htmlSetMetaCharSet(tree_t *tree)	/* I - Document tree */
+{
+  uchar	*tname,			/* Name value from tree entry */
+	*tcontent,		/* Content value from tree entry */
+	*tchar, *tchar2;
+  uchar charset[256];
+
+  while (tree != NULL)
+  {
+   /*
+    * Check this tree entry...
+    */
+    if (tree->markup == MARKUP_META)
+    {
+      if ((tname = htmlGetVariable(tree, (uchar *)"HTTP-EQUIV")) != NULL &&
+          (tcontent = htmlGetVariable(tree, (uchar *)"CONTENT")) != NULL)
+	if (strcasecmp((char *)tname, "Content-Type") == 0)
+	  if ((tchar = (uchar *)strstr((char *)tcontent, "charset=")) != NULL ||
+	      (tchar = (uchar *)strstr((char *)tcontent, "CHARSET=")) != NULL)
+	  {
+
+	    tchar += 8;
+	    for (tchar2 = charset; (*tchar >= (uchar)'a' && *tchar <= (uchar)'z') ||
+	                           (*tchar >= (uchar)'A' && *tchar <= (uchar)'Z') ||
+	                           (*tchar >= (uchar)'0' && *tchar <= (uchar)'9') ||
+			           *tchar == (uchar)'_' || *tchar == (uchar)'-';)
+	      *tchar2++ = *tchar++;
+	    *tchar2 = (uchar)'\0';
+	    for (tchar2 = charset; *tchar2 != (uchar)'\0'; tchar2++)
+	      *tchar2 = (uchar)tolower((char)*tchar2);
+	    htmlSetCharSet((char *)charset);
+	    return 1;
+	  }
+      if ((tname = htmlGetVariable(tree, (uchar *)"CHARSET")) != NULL)
+      {
+        tchar = tname;
+	for (tchar2 = charset; *tchar != (uchar)'\0';)
+	  *tchar2++ = (uchar)tolower((char)*tchar++);
+	*tchar2 = (uchar)'\0';
+	htmlSetCharSet((char *)charset);
+	return 1;
+      }
+    }
+
+   /*
+    * Check child entries...
+    */
+
+    if (tree->child != NULL)
+      if (htmlSetMetaCharSet(tree->child))
+        return 1;
+
+   /*
+    * Next tree entry...
+    */
+
+    tree = tree->next;
+  }
+
+  return 0;
+}
+
 
 /*
  * 'htmlGetStyle()' - Get a style value from a node's STYLE attribute.