diff --git a/package/czmq/czmq.mk b/package/czmq/czmq.mk
index 2b34654faa..d63fb78479 100644
--- a/package/czmq/czmq.mk
+++ b/package/czmq/czmq.mk
@@ -14,6 +14,10 @@ CZMQ_DEPENDENCIES = zeromq
 CZMQ_LICENSE = LGPLv3+ with exceptions
 CZMQ_LICENSE_FILES = COPYING COPYING.LESSER
 
+# asciidoc is a python script that imports unicodedata, which is not in
+# host-python, so disable asciidoc entirely.
+CZMQ_CONF_ENV = ac_cv_prog_czmq_have_asciidoc=no
+
 define CZMQ_CREATE_CONFIG_DIR
 	mkdir -p $(@D)/config
 endef