diff --git a/IkiWiki.pm b/IkiWiki.pm
index d76b5edb4..33e4e1d1f 100644
--- a/IkiWiki.pm
+++ b/IkiWiki.pm
@@ -1004,7 +1004,7 @@ sub displaytime ($;$$) {
 	my $time=formattime($_[0], $_[1]);
 	if ($config{html5}) {
 		return '<time datetime="'.date_3339($_[0]).'"'.
-			($_[2] ? ' pubdate' : '').
+			($_[2] ? ' pubdate="pubdate"' : '').
 			'>'.$time.'</time>';
 	}
 	else {
diff --git a/IkiWiki/Plugin/relativedate.pm b/IkiWiki/Plugin/relativedate.pm
index fe8ef0901..179f9238c 100644
--- a/IkiWiki/Plugin/relativedate.pm
+++ b/IkiWiki/Plugin/relativedate.pm
@@ -59,7 +59,7 @@ sub mydisplaytime ($;$$) {
 
 	if ($config{html5}) {
 		return '<time datetime="'.IkiWiki::date_3339($time).'"'.
-			($pubdate ? ' pubdate' : '').$mid.'</time>';
+			($pubdate ? ' pubdate="pubdate"' : '').$mid.'</time>';
 	}
 	else {
 		return '<span'.$mid.'</span>';
diff --git a/debian/changelog b/debian/changelog
index 730cae1e2..e6c5e42ae 100644
--- a/debian/changelog
+++ b/debian/changelog
@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@ ikiwiki (3.20100505) UNRELEASED; urgency=low
   * calendar: Allow negative month to be specified. -1 is last month, etc.
     (And also negative years.)
   * calendar: Display year in title of month calendar.
+  * Use xhtml friendly pubdate setting.
 
  -- Joey Hess <joeyh@debian.org>  Wed, 05 May 2010 18:07:29 -0400
 
diff --git a/doc/bugs/html5_time_element__39__s_pubdate_wrong_when_using_xhtml5___34__mode__34__.mdwn b/doc/bugs/html5_time_element__39__s_pubdate_wrong_when_using_xhtml5___34__mode__34__.mdwn
index 2dd0d945f..1f6bdb333 100644
--- a/doc/bugs/html5_time_element__39__s_pubdate_wrong_when_using_xhtml5___34__mode__34__.mdwn
+++ b/doc/bugs/html5_time_element__39__s_pubdate_wrong_when_using_xhtml5___34__mode__34__.mdwn
@@ -6,6 +6,9 @@ XML error:
 
 The pubdate REQUIRES a date, so e.g. `pubdate="2009-03-24T18:02:14Z"`
 
+> No, `pubdate="pubdate"`. It's a boolean attribute. applied && [[done]]
+> --[[Joey]] 
+
 Otherwise the XML parser chokes.
 
 <http://www.whatwg.org/specs/web-apps/current-work/multipage/text-level-semantics.html#attr-time-pubdate>