diff --git a/package/evtest/evtest.mk b/package/evtest/evtest.mk
index 42a79999c7..1573f52460 100644
--- a/package/evtest/evtest.mk
+++ b/package/evtest/evtest.mk
@@ -13,4 +13,9 @@ EVTEST_DEPENDENCIES = host-pkgconf
 # needed because source package contains no generated files
 EVTEST_AUTORECONF = YES
 
+# asciidoc used to generate manpages, which we don't need, and if it's
+# present on the build host, it ends getting called with our host-python
+# which doesn't have all the needed modules enabled, breaking the build
+EVTEST_CONF_ENV = ac_cv_path_ASCIIDOC=""
+
 $(eval $(autotools-package))