diff --git a/doc/Makefile b/doc/Makefile
index c8205bbf..cc68ec02 100644
--- a/doc/Makefile
+++ b/doc/Makefile
@@ -18,8 +18,19 @@ ifeq ($(COMPRESS), yes)
 endif
 
 # convert using "asciidoctor": <https://asciidoctor.org>
-ASCIIDOCTOR_MANPAGE = asciidoctor -d manpage -b manpage
-ASCIIDOCTOR_HTML    = asciidoctor -b html5 -d article
+# fallback to "a2x" from asciidoc package: <http://asciidoc.org>
+ifneq (, $(shell command -v asciidoctor 2> /dev/null))
+  ASCIIDOC_MANPAGE = asciidoctor -d manpage -b manpage
+  ASCIIDOC_HTML    = asciidoctor -b html5 -d article
+else ifneq (, $(shell command -v a2x 2> /dev/null))
+  # NOTE: using -L (--no-xmllint), as xmllint is a separate package on many distros.
+  ASCIIDOC_MANPAGE = a2x -L -d manpage -f manpage
+  ASCIIDOC_HTML    = asciidoc -b html -d article
+else
+  ASCIIDOC_ERR = $(error "please install either asciidoc or asciidoctor")
+  ASCIIDOC_MANPAGE = $(ASCIIDOC_ERR)
+  ASCIIDOC_HTML    = $(ASCIIDOC_ERR)
+endif
 
 # reproducible builds: reference date is ":date:" attribute from asciidoc source
 date_attr = $(shell sed -rn 's/:date:\s*//p' $(1))
@@ -50,10 +61,10 @@ clean:
 	gzip -9 -n -c $< > $@
 
 %.1 : %.1.asciidoc
-	SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH=$(call source_date_epoch,$<) $(ASCIIDOCTOR_MANPAGE) -o $@ $<
+	SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH=$(call source_date_epoch,$<) $(ASCIIDOC_MANPAGE) $<
 
 %.5 : %.5.asciidoc
-	SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH=$(call source_date_epoch,$<) $(ASCIIDOCTOR_MANPAGE) -o $@ $<
+	SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH=$(call source_date_epoch,$<) $(ASCIIDOC_MANPAGE) $<
 
 %.html : %.asciidoc
-	SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH=$(call source_date_epoch,$<) $(ASCIIDOCTOR_HTML) -o $@ $<
+	SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH=$(call source_date_epoch,$<) $(ASCIIDOC_HTML) -o $@ $<
diff --git a/doc/install.md b/doc/install.md
index f566b137..406287f9 100644
--- a/doc/install.md
+++ b/doc/install.md
@@ -9,7 +9,8 @@ file, choose one of the following methods:
 
 ### Generic Linux System
 
-Install [asciidoctor] if you want to build the documentation.
+Install [asciidoctor] or [asciidoc] if you want to build the
+documentation.
 
 Download and unpack the latest [btrbk source tarball] and type:
 
@@ -64,3 +65,4 @@ btrbk is in Void's `current` repository
 
   [btrbk source tarball]: https://digint.ch/download/btrbk/releases/
   [asciidoctor]: https://asciidoctor.org
+  [asciidoc]: https://asciidoc.org