diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 8ca86dae..847c34af 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -96,25 +96,28 @@ build-deps-ubuntu:
 docs: docs-deps docs-build
 
 docs-build: .PHONY
-	@if ! /bin/echo -e "import sys\nif sys.version_info < (3,8):\n exit(1)" | python3; then \
-	  if which python3.8; then \
-	  	echo "python3.8 $(shell which mkdocs) build"; \
-	    python3.8 $(shell which mkdocs) build; \
-	  else \
-	    echo "ERROR: Python version too low. mkdocs-material needs >= 3.8"; \
-	    exit 1; \
-	  fi; \
-	else \
-	  echo "mkdocs build"; \
-	  mkdocs build; \
-	fi
+	@if ! SUFFIX=$$(tools/get-best-python-for-docs-build.sh); then \
+		echo "ERROR: could not find a recent version of Python. mkdocs needs >= 3.8"; \
+		exit 1; \
+	fi; \
+	echo "python$$SUFFIX $$(which mkdocs) build"; \
+	"python$$SUFFIX" $$(which mkdocs) build
 
 docs-deps: .PHONY
-	pip3 install -r requirements.txt
+	@if ! SUFFIX=$$(tools/get-best-python-for-docs-build.sh); then \
+		echo "ERROR: could not find a recent version of Python. mkdocs needs >= 3.8"; \
+		exit 1; \
+	fi; \
+	echo "pip$$SUFFIX install -r requirements.txt"; \
+	"pip$$SUFFIX" install -r requirements.txt
 
 docs-deps-update: .PHONY
-	pip3 install -r requirements.txt --upgrade
-
+	@if ! SUFFIX=$$(tools/get-best-python-for-docs-build.sh); then \
+		echo "ERROR: could not find a recent version of Python. mkdocs needs >= 3.8"; \
+		exit 1; \
+	fi; \
+	echo "pip$$SUFFIX install -r requirements.txt --upgrade"; \
+	"pip$$SUFFIX" install -r requirements.txt --upgrade
 
 # Web app