diff --git a/lib/rdoc.rb b/lib/rdoc.rb
index a05391d769..2d3f8c1122 100644
--- a/lib/rdoc.rb
+++ b/lib/rdoc.rb
@@ -129,12 +129,15 @@ module RDoc
     if File.directory?(rdoc_dir)
       rdoc_dir
     else
-      # XDG
-      xdg_data_home = ENV["XDG_DATA_HOME"] || File.join(File.expand_path("~"), '.local', 'share')
-      unless File.exist?(xdg_data_home)
-        FileUtils.mkdir_p xdg_data_home
+      begin
+        # XDG
+        xdg_data_home = ENV["XDG_DATA_HOME"] || File.join(File.expand_path("~"), '.local', 'share')
+        unless File.exist?(xdg_data_home)
+          FileUtils.mkdir_p xdg_data_home
+        end
+        File.join xdg_data_home, "rdoc"
+      rescue Errno::EACCES
       end
-      File.join xdg_data_home, "rdoc"
     end
   end