diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 3bccb197..dda5ae97 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ env/
 fdroidserver.egg-info/
 pylint.parseable
 /.testfiles/
-docs/html/
+README.rst
 
 # files generated by tests
 tmp/
diff --git a/MANIFEST.in b/MANIFEST.in
index 031fccc6..10f4c7ce 100644
--- a/MANIFEST.in
+++ b/MANIFEST.in
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ include examples/template.yml
 include fdroid
 include LICENSE
 include makebuildserver
-include README.md
+include README.rst
 include tests/androguard_test.py
 include tests/bad-unicode-*.apk
 include tests/build.TestCase
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 15544732..4a680536 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -12,15 +12,20 @@ else:
     data_prefix = '.'
 
 # PyPI accepts reST not Markdown
-if shutil.which('pandoc'):
-    print('Using reST README')
-    import subprocess
-    readme = subprocess.check_output(['pandoc', '--from=markdown', '--to=rst', 'README.md'],
-                                     universal_newlines=True)
+if os.path.exists('README.md'):
+    if shutil.which('pandoc'):
+        print('Using reST README')
+        import subprocess
+        subprocess.check_call(['pandoc', '--from=markdown', '--to=rst', 'README.md',
+                               '--output=README.rst'], universal_newlines=True)
+        with open('README.rst') as fp:
+            readme = fp.read()
+    else:
+        print('Using Markdown README')
+        with open('README.md') as fp:
+            readme = fp.read()
 else:
-    print('Using Markdown README')
-    with open('README.md') as fp:
-        readme = fp.read()
+    readme = ''
 
 setup(name='fdroidserver',
       version='0.8',