diff --git a/Makefile.am b/Makefile.am
index e25e8ff2a2..29bba715bd 100644
--- a/Makefile.am
+++ b/Makefile.am
@@ -24,13 +24,17 @@ EXTRA_DIST = \
 #install-data-local:
 #	$(INSTALL) -m 755 -d $(LOCALSTATEDIR)/lib/tor
 
+# Allows to override rpmbuild with rpmbuild-md5 from fedora-packager so that
+# building for EL5 won't fail on https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=490613
+RPMBUILD ?= rpmbuild
+
 # Use automake's dist-gzip target to build the tarball
 dist-rpm: dist-gzip
 	TIMESTAMP=$$(date +"%Y-%m-%d_%H.%M.%S"); 				\
 	RPM_BUILD_DIR=$$(mktemp -d "/tmp/tor-rpm-build-$$TIMESTAMP-XXXX");	\
 	mkdir -p "$$RPM_BUILD_DIR"/{BUILD,RPMS,SOURCES/"tor-$(VERSION)",SPECS,SRPMS}; \
 	cp -fa "$(distdir).tar.gz" "$$RPM_BUILD_DIR"/SOURCES/;			\
-	LIBS=-lrt rpmbuild -ba --define "_topdir $$RPM_BUILD_DIR" tor.spec; 	\
+	LIBS=-lrt $(RPMBUILD) -ba --define "_topdir $$RPM_BUILD_DIR" tor.spec; 	\
 	cp -fa "$$RPM_BUILD_DIR"/SRPMS/* .;                           		\
 	cp -fa "$$RPM_BUILD_DIR"/RPMS/* .;                            		\
 	rm -rf "$$RPM_BUILD_DIR";						\
diff --git a/doc/tor-rpm-creation.txt b/doc/tor-rpm-creation.txt
index eb22c2225a..a88f2e8290 100644
--- a/doc/tor-rpm-creation.txt
+++ b/doc/tor-rpm-creation.txt
@@ -2,18 +2,9 @@
 ##
 The process used to create the official rpms is as follows:
 
-Download latest stable libevent from
-http://libevent.org/
-
-The first step of compiling libevent is to configure it as follows:
-./configure --enable-static --disable-shared 
-
-Complete the "make" and "make install".  You will need to be root,
-or sudo -s, to complete the "make install".
-
-Check for a successful universal binary of libevent.a in, by default,
-/usr/local/lib by using the following command:
-	"file /usr/local/lib/libevent.a"
+You'll need to install libevent headers, usually located in package named
+libevent-devel. Alternatively, you could download latest libevent from
+http://libevent.org/ but that shouldn't be necessary.
 
 Download and Extract the latest tor source code from
 https://www.torproject.org/download
@@ -25,6 +16,9 @@ make dist-rpm
 You should have at least two, maybe three, rpms.  There should be the binary
 i386.rpm, a src.rpm, and on redhat/centos machines, a debuginfo.rpm.
 
+This step suffices unless you want to create RPMs for distros other than the
+one you used for building.
+
 
 ## Instructions for building RPMs for multiple architectures or distributions
 ## using 'mock'
@@ -39,5 +33,22 @@ extension in the -r parameter):
 
 mock --rebuild -r fedora-17-x86_64 tor-X.Y.Z.src.rpm
 
+Building for EL5 from newer distro (e.g. EL6 or Fedora 17) will fail due to bug
+(https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=490613).
+Here's a workaround:
+
+Before even building the source RPM, install fedora-packager and instruct
+the build system to use rpmbuild-md5 like this:
+
+yum install fedora-packager
+export RPMBUILD=rpmbuild-md5
+
+Then proceed as usual to create the source RPM and binary RPMs:
+
+LIBS=-lrt ./configure
+make dist-rpm
+mock --rebuild -r epel-5-x86_64 tor-X.Y.Z.src.rpm
+
+
 (Note: don't build under OpenVZ - it breaks unshare() syscall, which in turn
 breaks mock. It could save you several hours.)