diff --git a/doc/source/conf.py b/doc/source/conf.py
index 1a7475b0..343a4b87 100644
--- a/doc/source/conf.py
+++ b/doc/source/conf.py
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@
 import os
 import subprocess
 import sys
+import warnings
 
 on_rtd = os.environ.get('READTHEDOCS', None) == 'True'
 
@@ -88,8 +89,12 @@ if not on_rtd:
 #html_last_updated_fmt = '%b %d, %Y'
 git_cmd = ["git", "log", "--pretty=format:'%ad, commit %h'", "--date=local",
            "-n1"]
-html_last_updated_fmt = subprocess.Popen(
-    git_cmd, stdout=subprocess.PIPE).communicate()[0]
+try:
+    html_last_updated_fmt = subprocess.Popen(
+        git_cmd, stdout=subprocess.PIPE).communicate()[0]
+except OSError:
+    warnings.warn('Cannot get last updated time from git repository. '
+                  'Not setting "html_last_updated_fmt".')
 
 
 # The name for this set of Sphinx documents. If None, it defaults to