diff --git a/package/qemu/qemu.mk b/package/qemu/qemu.mk
index 1fbc810..5aa12ab 100644
--- a/package/qemu/qemu.mk
+++ b/package/qemu/qemu.mk
@@ -261,6 +261,12 @@ ifeq ($(BR2_PACKAGE_QEMU_BLOBS),)
 QEMU_OPTS += --disable-blobs
 endif
 
+ifeq ($(BR2_HAVE_DOCUMENTATION),y)
+QEMU_OPTS += --enable-docs
+else
+QEMU_OPTS += --disable-docs
+endif
+
 # Post-install removal of unwanted keymaps:
 # - if we want 'all', we do nothing;
 # - if we want none, we completely remove the keymap dir
@@ -340,7 +346,6 @@ define QEMU_CONFIGURE_CMDS
 	        --disable-brlapi                    \
 	        --disable-fdt                       \
 	        --disable-guest-base                \
-	        --disable-docs                      \
 	        --disable-rbd                       \
 	        --disable-smartcard                 \
 	        --disable-strip                     \