diff --git a/doc/Makefile b/doc/Makefile
index 42f7b1a8268..657ccc5fc74 100644
--- a/doc/Makefile
+++ b/doc/Makefile
@@ -35,4 +35,5 @@ distclean: clean
 venv:
 	$(PYTHON) -m venv $(VENVDIR)
 	$(VENVDIR)/bin/python3 -m pip install -U pip setuptools
-	$(VENVDIR)/bin/python3 -m pip install -U -r ./requirements.txt
+	$(VENVDIR)/bin/python3 -m pip install -U -r ./requirements.txt \
+		-c constraints.txt
diff --git a/doc/constraints.txt b/doc/constraints.txt
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..69a11f6ce97
--- /dev/null
+++ b/doc/constraints.txt
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+docutils < 0.19