diff --git a/doc/conf.py b/doc/conf.py
index cbaaa16a5..9c1a4f06f 100644
--- a/doc/conf.py
+++ b/doc/conf.py
@@ -44,12 +44,6 @@ extensions = [
     'breathe',
 ]
 
-
-# add markdown parser
-source_parsers = {
-    '.md': 'recommonmark.parser.CommonMarkParser',
-}
-
 # Use breathe to include doxygen documents
 breathe_projects = {'rabit' : 'doxygen/xml/'}
 breathe_default_project = 'rabit'
@@ -66,7 +60,7 @@ source_suffix = ['.rst', '.md']
 #source_encoding = 'utf-8-sig'
 
 # The master toctree document.
-master_doc = 'README'
+master_doc = 'index'
 
 # The language for content autogenerated by Sphinx. Refer to documentation
 # for a list of supported languages.
@@ -154,11 +148,19 @@ def generate_doxygen_xml(app):
     if read_the_docs_build:
         run_doxygen('..')
 
+# add markdown parser
+source_parsers = {
+    '.md': None,
+}
+
 def setup_path(app):
     read_the_docs_build = os.environ.get('READTHEDOCS', None) == 'True'
     if read_the_docs_build:
         subprocess.call("cd ..; rm -rf recommonmark; git clone https://github.com/tqchen/recommonmark", shell=True)
     sys.path.insert(0, os.path.abspath('../recommonmark'))
+    from recommonmark import parser
+    global source_parsers
+    source_parsers['.md'] = parser.CommonMarkParser
 
 def setup(app):
     # Add hook for building doxygen xml when needed
diff --git a/doc/README.md b/doc/index.md
similarity index 100%
rename from doc/README.md
rename to doc/index.md