diff --git a/scripts/asciidoctor_syntax_check.bash b/scripts/asciidoctor_syntax_check.bash
index 1aaa244197e418d85df13181d04fc97f649521a6..fb66a87b58071134a107e41101ce7729ea02c96e 100644
--- a/scripts/asciidoctor_syntax_check.bash
+++ b/scripts/asciidoctor_syntax_check.bash
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ if [ -z "$1" ] ; then
     exit 1
 fi
 
+touch output.log # avoid failing if no adoc files exist
 while IFS= read -r -d '' filename; do
   asciidoctor "$filename" 2>&1 | tee -a output.log
 done < <(find "$1" -name '*.adoc' -type f -print0)