diff --git a/doc/source/conf.py b/doc/source/conf.py
index f5587ec97..600886122 100644
--- a/doc/source/conf.py
+++ b/doc/source/conf.py
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 import os
 import subprocess
 import sys
-import time
+import warnings
 
 sys.path.insert(0, os.path.abspath('../..'))
 # -- General configuration ----------------------------------------------------
@@ -61,7 +61,8 @@ try:
     html_last_updated_fmt = subprocess.Popen(
         git_cmd, stdout=subprocess.PIPE).communicate()[0]
 except Exception:
-    html_last_updated_fmt = time.ctime()
+    warnings.warn('Cannot get last updated time from git repository. '
+                  'Not setting "html_last_updated_fmt".')
 
 # Grouping the document tree into LaTeX files. List of tuples
 # (source start file, target name, title, author, documentclass