diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@
 include(ECMSetupVersion)
 include(ECMMarkNonGuiExecutable)
 include(CMakePackageConfigHelpers)
+include(GenerateExportHeader)
 
 ecm_setup_version(PROJECT VARIABLE_PREFIX KDOCTOOLS
                         VERSION_HEADER "${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/kdoctools_version.h"
diff --git a/src/CMakeLists.txt b/src/CMakeLists.txt
--- a/src/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/src/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -26,6 +26,40 @@
 endif()
 
 # needed by KIO, need to export it
+add_library(KF5DocTools SHARED xslt.cpp xslt_kde.cpp)
+generate_export_header(KF5DocTools BASE_NAME KDocTools EXPORT_FILE_NAME "${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/kdoctools_export.h")
+add_library(KF5::DocTools ALIAS KF5DocTools)
+if (NOT MEINPROC_NO_KARCHIVE)
+    set (_private_link_karchive "KF5::Archive")
+else()
+    set (_private_link_karchive "")
+endif()
+target_link_libraries(KF5DocTools
+    PUBLIC
+        Qt5::Core
+    PRIVATE
+        ${LIBXML2_LIBRARIES} ${LIBXSLT_LIBRARIES} ${LIBXSLT_EXSLT_LIBRARIES} ${_private_link_karchive}
+)
+set_target_properties(KF5DocTools PROPERTIES
+    POSITION_INDEPENDENT_CODE TRUE
+    EXPORT_NAME KDocTools
+)
+
+target_include_directories(KF5DocTools INTERFACE "$<INSTALL_INTERFACE:${KDE_INSTALL_INCLUDEDIR_KF5}/KDocTools>")
+
+install(FILES
+    docbookxslt.h
+    ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/kdoctools_export.h
+    DESTINATION ${KDE_INSTALL_INCLUDEDIR_KF5}/KDocTools
+    COMPONENT Devel
+)
+
+set_target_properties(KF5DocTools PROPERTIES VERSION   ${KDOCTOOLS_VERSION_STRING}
+                                             SOVERSION ${KDOCTOOLS_SOVERSION}
+                                             EXPORT_NAME DocTools
+)
+
+# -------------------------------------
 add_library(KF5XsltKde STATIC xslt.cpp xslt_kde.cpp)
 add_library(KF5::XsltKde ALIAS KF5XsltKde)
 if (NOT MEINPROC_NO_KARCHIVE)
@@ -49,11 +83,13 @@
 install(FILES
     xslt.h
     xslt_kde.h
+    docbookxslt.h docbookxslt_p.h
+    ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/kdoctools_export.h
     DESTINATION ${KDE_INSTALL_INCLUDEDIR_KF5}/XsltKde
     COMPONENT Devel
 )
 
-install(TARGETS KF5XsltKde EXPORT KF5DocToolsTargets ${KF5_INSTALL_TARGETS_DEFAULT_ARGS})
+install(TARGETS KF5XsltKde KF5DocTools EXPORT KF5DocToolsTargets ${KF5_INSTALL_TARGETS_DEFAULT_ARGS})
 
 ########### next target ###############
 
@@ -68,7 +104,7 @@
 
 add_executable(meinproc5 meinproc.cpp meinproc_common.cpp xslt.cpp ${meinproc_additional_SRCS})
 ecm_mark_nongui_executable(meinproc5)
-target_link_libraries(meinproc5 Qt5::Core ${LIBXML2_LIBRARIES} ${LIBXSLT_LIBRARIES} ${LIBXSLT_EXSLT_LIBRARIES} ${meinproc_additional_LIBS})
+target_link_libraries(meinproc5 Qt5::Core KF5::DocTools ${LIBXML2_LIBRARIES} ${LIBXSLT_LIBRARIES} ${LIBXSLT_EXSLT_LIBRARIES} ${meinproc_additional_LIBS})
 install(TARGETS meinproc5 EXPORT KF5DocToolsTargets ${KF5_INSTALL_TARGETS_DEFAULT_ARGS})
 
 if(CMAKE_CROSSCOMPILING AND MEINPROC5_EXECUTABLE)
diff --git a/src/docbookxslt.h b/src/docbookxslt.h
new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/docbookxslt.h
@@ -0,0 +1,70 @@
+/*
+ * This file is part of KDE Frameworks - KDocTools
+ * The following contributors changed the signatures of the functions
+ * exported here:
+ * Copyright (C) 2001 Stephan Kulow <coolo@kde.org>
+ * Copyright (C) 2005 Frerich Raabe <raabe@kde.org>
+ * Copyright (C) 2010 Albert Astals Cid <aacid@kde.org>
+ * Copyright (C) 2010, 2016, 2017 Luigi Toscano <luigi.toscano@tiscali.it>
+ *
+ * This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
+ * modify it under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public
+ * License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either
+ * version 2.1 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
+ *
+ * This library is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+ * but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+ * MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU
+ * Lesser General Public License for more details.
+ *
+ * You should have received a copy of the GNU Lesser General Public
+ * License along with this library.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+ *
+ */
+
+#ifndef _KDOCTOOLS_XSLT_H_
+#define _KDOCTOOLS_XSLT_H_
+
+#include <kdoctools_export.h>
+#include <QStandardPaths>
+#include <QVector>
+
+class QByteArray;
+class QString;
+
+namespace KDocTools {
+
+/**
+ * Tranform and return the content of file with the specified XSLT stylesheet
+ * (both already in memory) using the optional parameters.
+ */
+KDOCTOOLS_EXPORT QString transform(const QString &file, const QString &stylesheet,
+                                   const QVector<const char *> &params = QVector<const char *>());
+
+/**
+ * Extract the content of a single file from the content string
+ * generated by the transformation scripts.
+ * @since 5.32
+ */
+KDOCTOOLS_EXPORT QByteArray extractFileToBuffer(const QString &content, const QString &filename);
+
+/**
+ * Save the content (compressed) in the specified filename.
+ */
+KDOCTOOLS_EXPORT bool saveToCache(const QString &contents, const QString &filename);
+
+/**
+ * Initialize the XML catalog used by XSLT functions from the standard
+   directories or from the specified srcdir.
+ */
+KDOCTOOLS_EXPORT void setupStandardDirs(const QString &srcdir = QString());
+
+
+/**
+ * Find a specified file amongst the resource shipped with KDocTools.
+ */
+KDOCTOOLS_EXPORT QString locateFileInDtdResource(const QString &file, const QStandardPaths::LocateOptions option=QStandardPaths::LocateFile);
+
+}
+
+#endif
diff --git a/src/docbookxslt_p.h b/src/docbookxslt_p.h
new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/docbookxslt_p.h
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+#ifndef _KDOCTOOLS_XSLT_P_H_
+#define _KDOCTOOLS_XSLT_P_H_
+
+QString splitOut(const QString &parsed, int index);
+QByteArray fromUnicode(const QString &data);
+void replaceCharsetHeader(QString &output);
+QStringList locateFilesInDtdResource(const QString &file, const QStandardPaths::LocateOptions option=QStandardPaths::LocateFile);
+QStringList getKDocToolsCatalogs();
+
+#endif
+
diff --git a/src/meinproc.cpp b/src/meinproc.cpp
--- a/src/meinproc.cpp
+++ b/src/meinproc.cpp
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 
 #include "../config-kdoctools.h"
-#include "xslt.h"
+#include "docbookxslt.h"
+#include "docbookxslt_p.h"
 #include "meinproc_common.h"
 
 #include <QCoreApplication>
@@ -32,6 +33,8 @@
 #include <qcommandlineparser.h>
 #include <qcommandlineoption.h>
 
+using namespace KDocTools;
+
 #ifndef _WIN32
 extern "C" int xmlLoadExtDtdDefaultValue;
 #endif
diff --git a/src/meinproc_common.cpp b/src/meinproc_common.cpp
--- a/src/meinproc_common.cpp
+++ b/src/meinproc_common.cpp
@@ -1,7 +1,8 @@
 
 #include "meinproc_common.h"
 
-#include "xslt.h"
+#include "docbookxslt.h"
+#include "docbookxslt_p.h"
 
 #include <QDir>
 #include <QFileInfo>
diff --git a/src/xslt.h b/src/xslt.h
--- a/src/xslt.h
+++ b/src/xslt.h
@@ -1,31 +1,9 @@
 #ifndef _MEIN_XSLT_H_
 #define _MEIN_XSLT_H_
 
-#include <libxml/parser.h>
-#include <QtCore/QStandardPaths>
-#include <QtCore/QString>
-#include <QtCore/QVector>
+#include "docbookxslt.h"
+#include "docbookxslt_p.h"
 
-class QByteArray;
-
-QString transform(const QString &file, const QString &stylesheet,
-                  const QVector<const char *> &params = QVector<const char *>());
-QString splitOut(const QString &parsed, int index);
-QByteArray fromUnicode(const QString &data);
-void replaceCharsetHeader(QString &output);
-
-/**
- * Extract the content of a single file from the content string
- * generated by the transformation scripts.
- * @since 5.32
- */
-QByteArray extractFileToBuffer(const QString &content, const QString &filename);
-
-bool saveToCache(const QString &contents, const QString &filename);
-
-void setupStandardDirs(const QString &srcdir = QString());
-QString locateFileInDtdResource(const QString &file, const QStandardPaths::LocateOptions option=QStandardPaths::LocateFile);
-QStringList locateFilesInDtdResource(const QString &file, const QStandardPaths::LocateOptions option=QStandardPaths::LocateFile);
-QStringList getKDocToolsCatalogs();
+using namespace KDocTools;
 
 #endif
diff --git a/src/xslt.cpp b/src/xslt.cpp
--- a/src/xslt.cpp
+++ b/src/xslt.cpp
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
-#include "xslt.h"
+#include "docbookxslt.h"
+#include "docbookxslt_p.h"
 
 #ifdef Q_OS_WIN
 //one of the xslt/xml headers pulls in windows.h and breaks <limits>
@@ -12,6 +13,7 @@
 #include <libxslt/xsltInternals.h>
 #include <libxslt/transform.h>
 #include <libxslt/xsltutils.h>
+#include <libxml/parser.h>
 #include <libxml/xmlIO.h>
 #include <libxml/parserInternals.h>
 #include <libxml/catalog.h>
@@ -24,6 +26,9 @@
 #include <QtCore/QTextCodec>
 #include <QtCore/QUrl>
 #include <QtCore/QDebug>
+#include <QByteArray>
+#include <QString>
+#include <QVector>
 
 #if !defined( SIMPLE_XSLT )
 extern HelpProtocol *slave;
@@ -126,7 +131,7 @@
 }
 #endif
 
-QString transform(const QString &pat, const QString &tss,
+QString KDocTools::transform(const QString &pat, const QString &tss,
                   const QVector<const char *> &params)
 {
     QString parsed;
@@ -358,7 +363,7 @@
 #endif
 }
 
-QByteArray extractFileToBuffer(const QString &content, const QString &filename)
+QByteArray KDocTools::extractFileToBuffer(const QString &content, const QString &filename)
 {
     int index = content.indexOf(QStringLiteral("<FILENAME filename=\"%1\"").arg(filename));
     if (index == -1) {
@@ -381,7 +386,7 @@
 
 Q_GLOBAL_STATIC(DtdStandardDirs, s_dtdDirs)
 
-void setupStandardDirs(const QString &srcdir)
+void KDocTools::setupStandardDirs(const QString &srcdir)
 {
     QByteArray catalogs;
 
@@ -396,7 +401,7 @@
     xmlInitializeCatalog();
 }
 
-QString locateFileInDtdResource(const QString &file, const QStandardPaths::LocateOptions option)
+QString KDocTools::locateFileInDtdResource(const QString &file, const QStandardPaths::LocateOptions option)
 {
     const QStringList lst = locateFilesInDtdResource(file, option);
     return lst.isEmpty() ? QString() : lst.first();
diff --git a/src/xslt_kde.cpp b/src/xslt_kde.cpp
--- a/src/xslt_kde.cpp
+++ b/src/xslt_kde.cpp
@@ -1,11 +1,11 @@
-#include "xslt_kde.h"
+#include "docbookxslt.h"
 #ifndef MEINPROC_NO_KARCHIVE
 #include <kfilterdev.h>
 #else
 #include <QDebug>
 #endif
 
-bool saveToCache(const QString &contents, const QString &filename)
+bool KDocTools::saveToCache(const QString &contents, const QString &filename)
 {
 #ifndef MEINPROC_NO_KARCHIVE
     KFilterDev fd(filename);