diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 75b3ef58d..5ba5ff4ba 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -313,7 +313,8 @@ appimageupdate: all
 	# TODO at best this is DebUbuntu specific
 	ln -sf /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libSDL2-2.0.so.0 $(INSTALL_DIR)/koreader/libs/libSDL2.so
 	# required for our stock Ubuntu SDL even though we don't use sound
-	ln -sf /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libsndio.so $(INSTALL_DIR)/koreader/libs/$(shell readlink /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libsndio.so)
+	# the readlink is a half-hearted attempt at being generic; the echo libsndio.so.6.1 is specific to the nightly builds
+	ln -sf /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/$(shell readlink /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libsndio.so || echo libsndio.so.6.1) $(INSTALL_DIR)/koreader/libs/
 ifeq ("$(wildcard $(APPIMAGETOOL))","")
 	# download appimagetool
 	wget "$(APPIMAGETOOL_URL)"