diff --git a/CHANGES b/CHANGES
index 23ff3819b..472ca6e81 100644
--- a/CHANGES
+++ b/CHANGES
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ Bugs fixed
 * C++, type declarations are now using the prefixes ``typedef``, ``using``, and ``type``,
   depending on the style of declaration.
 * #2394: Fix Sphinx crashes when html_last_updated_fmt is invalid
+* #2408: dummy builder not available in Makefile and make.bat
 
 
 Release 1.4 (released Mar 28, 2016)
diff --git a/sphinx/quickstart.py b/sphinx/quickstart.py
index e9564b0dd..77f9139e5 100644
--- a/sphinx/quickstart.py
+++ b/sphinx/quickstart.py
@@ -520,6 +520,7 @@ help:
 \t@echo "  doctest    to run all doctests embedded in the documentation \
 (if enabled)"
 \t@echo "  coverage   to run coverage check of the documentation (if enabled)"
+\t@echo "  dummy      to check syntax errors of document sources"
 
 .PHONY: clean
 clean:
@@ -695,6 +696,12 @@ pseudoxml:
 \t$(SPHINXBUILD) -b pseudoxml $(ALLSPHINXOPTS) $(BUILDDIR)/pseudoxml
 \t@echo
 \t@echo "Build finished. The pseudo-XML files are in $(BUILDDIR)/pseudoxml."
+
+.PHONY: dummy
+dummy:
+\t$(SPHINXBUILD) -b dummy $(ALLSPHINXOPTS) $(BUILDDIR)/dummy
+\t@echo
+\t@echo "Build finished. Dummy builder generates no files."
 '''
 
 BATCHFILE = u'''\
@@ -739,6 +746,7 @@ if "%%1" == "help" (
 \techo.  linkcheck  to check all external links for integrity
 \techo.  doctest    to run all doctests embedded in the documentation if enabled
 \techo.  coverage   to run coverage check of the documentation if enabled
+\techo.  dummy      to check syntax errors of document sources
 \tgoto end
 )
 
@@ -969,6 +977,14 @@ if "%%1" == "pseudoxml" (
 \tgoto end
 )
 
+if "%%1" == "dummy" (
+\t%%SPHINXBUILD%% -b dummy %%ALLSPHINXOPTS%% %%BUILDDIR%%/dummy
+\tif errorlevel 1 exit /b 1
+\techo.
+\techo.Build finished. Dummy builder generates no files.
+\tgoto end
+)
+
 :end
 '''